Two of Ireland’s largest landowners – Coillte and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) – are to co-operate on “restoring nature at scale”, which is predicted to help the country meet the requirements of the new EU nature restoration law (NRL).
The State agencies have agreed a framework for delivery of nature conservation projects and management of their respective estates. The first joint project aims to enhance endangered hen harrier populations in the Slieve Bloom mountains in the midlands.
They have committed to protecting, enhancing and restoring important ecosystems, and to protecting habitats such as raised and blanket bogs, heaths and wetlands, lakes and rivers. Much of the work will protect threatened species such as freshwater pearl mussel, the merlin and breeding waders.
NPWS manages eight national parks, 74 nature reserves and a variety of other State lands accessible to the public, while Coillte is the State’s largest forest and landowner – with more than 440,000 hectares, which makes up one of the country’s largest carbon sinks.
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Speaking at the Ploughing Championships in Co Laois, Minister for Nature and Heritage Malcolm Noonan said: “This is a huge opportunity to restore nature at scale across Ireland. By bringing together the national agency responsible for biodiversity and Ireland’s State forestry company – two of the largest landowners in the country ... we are prioritising actions to restore nature and meet our obligations under the [EU] Birds and Habitats Directives but also deliver for the NRL.”
“Coillte is one of the largest landowners in the State and is already undertaking progressive projects and providing strategic leadership for nature across its landholdings. NPWS is delighted to enter this memorandum of understanding with the company, as it is a portal to significant future projects and co-operation for nature,” said NPWS director general Niall Ó Donnchú.
The objective of the agreement “aligns perfectly with our own strategic ambitions to balance and deliver the multiple benefits of forests for climate, nature, wood and people”, said Coillte chief executive Imelda Hurley.
Coillte committed previously to enhancing and restoring biodiversity by increasing the area of its estate “managed primarily for nature” from 20 to 30 per cent by 2025. Ms Hurley added that it has also undertaken to transform areas of its forests so that 50 per cent of its estate is managed primarily for nature in the long-term, while continuing to supply sustainably grown Irish wood.
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