The Nature & Environmental Protection Working Group (NEP) focuses mainly on biodiversity. It has been clear for a while that biodiversity in NI is not doing well. As the DAERA draft NI Environment Strategy said:

“Key reports in 2019 reported concerning trends in abundance indicators for a suite of species in NI and widespread loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitats.”

There are many other sources of evidence of the poor state of NI’s biodiversity. For example the State of Nature Report (2023) found that of 2,508 species in Northern Ireland that have been assessed using IUCN Regional Red List criteria, 12% have been classified as threatened with extinction from Ireland as a whole. This represents a deterioration of the situation revealed by the State of Nature Report 2019 which found that 11% (272) of the 2,450 species found in Northern Ireland that have been assessed using the IUCN Regional Red List criteria, and for which sufficient data were available, were threatened with extinction from Ireland as a whole.

Members of the Nature & Environmental Protection Working Group are:

• Bat Conservation Ireland;
• Buglife;
• Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management;
• Friends of the Earth NI;
• National Trust NI;
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds NI;
• Queen’s University Belfast;
• Ulster Angling Federation;
• Ulster Wildlife; and
• Woodland Trust

According to research by the Natural History Museum and RSPB published in 2021, NI got a ranking of 12 (out of 240 countries and territories, where a ranking of 1 is the lowest biodiversity intactness and 240 the highest) in a Biodiversity Intactness Index, which indicates how much nature is left from a pristine state, for the amount of nature it has left .

The previous Biodiversity Strategy ran until 2020 so a new biodiversity strategy is long overdue.

NI needs to introduce and properly implement ambitious targets in law to halt and reverse the systemic loss of biodiversity and put nature on the path to recovery by 2030. This could be done by, amongst other things, ensuring the effective protection and management of at least 30% of land and sea for nature and people by 2030, a goal which was endorsed by the AERA Minister in the NI Assembly on 25^th May 2021. The implementation of an ambitious Environment Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy containing nature restoration targets set in law will be key components in achieving this goal.

If you would like further information on the work of the Nature & Environmental Protection Group contact:

Contact:

Malachy Campbell
Northern Ireland Environment Link
Gordon House
22-24 Lombard Street
Belfast
BT1 1RD
Email: malachy@nienvironmentlink.org