Greens welcome publication of guidance for public bodies on Biodiversity Duty

The Green Party has today welcomed the publication of guidance by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Business for Biodiversity Ireland of how public bodies can meet their obligations under the Biodiversity Duty introduced by the Greens in the Wildlife Amendment Act 2023.

Speaking following publication of the guidance, Senator Malcolm Noonan who introduced the measure in the Act as Minister for Nature, said that this was an important milestone and could fundamentally change how public bodies meet their requirements under the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan and the upcoming Nature Restoration Law.

'The publication of this guidance document should over time, transform procurement, use of resources, planning and critically how they report their biodiversity duty obligations. We know that resource use and land use change are major drivers of biodiversity loss. Having in place clear guidelines to assist public bodies in ensuring that their actions are not just taking cognisance of biodiversity but actually nature positive. In practical terms, it means that local authorities should embed nature in planning new developments, using nature based solutions and in parklands,' said Senator Noonan.

He said that the recent decision by Coillte to disband its nature division, Coillte Nature, is at odds with these new guidelines and with the biodiversity duty under the wildlife act and he is calling on the semi-state forestry body to reconsider the decision or publish a comprehensive plan as to how it will meet these requirements.

‘We cannot have a situation where one department of government is publishing guidelines to enact the biodiversity duty of public bodies under the wildlife act, while Government is telling us there’s nothing to see here with the dismantling of Coillte Nature.' 

'We warmly welcome the publication of these guidelines but a biodiversity duty is now in law and must be taken seriously by all public bodies. This will require, re-skilling, employing appropriate skills within staff and ensuring that there are appropriate skills at board and management level. The scale of the challenge ahead in restoring nature is immense, but the benefits of doing so will stand the test of time,' concluded Senator Noonan.