A review of the impacts of nitrates derogation should be undertaken and the drainage of peatlands and peat soils for agriculture must be ended, a new report on biodiversity has recommended.

The report, compiled by the Oireachtas committee on environment, has made 75 recommendations to improve Ireland’s biodiversity.

It has also recommended that “urgent steps” are taken to ensure Ireland reaches its EU obligations on the designation of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), that the restoration of biodiversity should be reflected in all Government land-use policies and that appropriate public land is used for the creation of new “statutory nature reserves”.

It said that regulations should be enhanced around pesticides and that the remaining old oak forests in the State should be designated as SACs.

Peatlands

On peatlands, it has said that a national peatlands unit should be established, a national inventory of peatlands should be put in place and that greater engagements with landowners is “vital for providing tailored solutions to peatlands restoration”.

Furthermore, a thorough examination of the support schemes and CAP measures should be conducted to ascertain potential “initiatives and incentives to encourage farming communities to implement biodiversity and restoration on their lands”.

It calls for a transition away from the practice of monoculture forestry and for the State to pursue a policy of forest diversification.

The committee has recommended that an examination of the practices for managing overgrazing, especially of non-native deer, be undertaken with the aim of establishing potential solutions to the issue of overgrazing.

Among the other recommendations, it said that local authorities should work to empower local communities and farmers to restore biodiversity, including paying farmers to enhance biodiversity on “unused lands”.

It also said that consideration should be given to the establishment of a joint committee on biodiversity and that a review of the Wildlife Act and Heritage Act be undertaken with a view to underpinning the protection of hedgerows in legislation.

Emissions

The committee also agreed that “all farmers need to know what their greenhouse gas emissions are and how these are affected when they change their farm output and farming practices”.

It acknowledged that if emissions “cannot be measures, [they] cannot be improved”.

Committee members also agreed that policy should focus on reducing the level of net emissions in agriculture, encouraging stronger measures and removing incentives that allow for unsustainable farming while providing the co-benefit of improving biodiversity.