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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published its
Biodiversity Action Plan to coincide with World Wetlands Day.
The theme for World
Wetlands Day this year is - Wetlands, Biodiversity
and Climate Change.
Launching the report, Dr. Mary Kelly, EPA Director General
said - “For its relatively small size Ireland has a wide diversity
of habitats ranging from peatlands to coastal lagoons. These
habitats are internationally renowned and support a high level
of biodiversity that is, increasingly, under threat.
"While many people now understand the threats to society
and the planet posed by global climate change, the threats
posed by loss of biodiversity are less commonly understood.
But human wellbeing is dependent on ‘ecosystem services’
provided to us by nature, for free - for example, water and
air purification, fisheries, timber, nutrient cycling, floodwater
storage and recreational facilities.
"It is, therefore, of vital importance that such reservoirs
of biodiversity are protected.”
The EPA’s Biodiversity Action Plan presents an explicit action
plan for the implementation of its role in the protection
of biodiversity. The Plan covers a range of activities in
the areas of monitoring, research, assessment and reporting,
environmental regulation, climate change and management and
communications.
The Plan also outlines a wide range of significant actions,
which will be undertaken by the EPA in relation to the protection
of Ireland’s biodiversity - thus underlining the substantial
support role undertaken by the Agency in this area.
To download the Biodiversity Action Plan - Click
Here
NOTE
A full discussion on the state of biodiversity in Ireland
is contained in the EPA report
- Ireland’s Environment 2008
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