Our wildlife on brink

Politicians are urged to act to save the 10,000 animal and plant species that are in danger of extinction due to human activity

UP to a quarter of Ireland’s animals and plants are threatened with extinction, according to a stark warning from the country’s biodiversity office.

Due to the wide range of habitats available across the country, around 34,000 types of animals and plants are documented in Ireland, with a further 6,000 estimated to be unrecorded.

However, according to the National Biodiversity Data Centre, between 20% and 25% are in danger of being wiped out – and human activity is mainly at fault.

Dr Liam Lysaght, director of the centre, said that the species affected by rapidly declining populations are now facing a crisis.

‘Of these species that have been assessed, it’s found that between one-fifth and a quarter of species are threatened with extinction,’ Dr Lysaght said, describing the decline as ‘staggering’.

The level of risk is being described as ‘critical’ by experts, as a variety of well-known animals are now ‘barely hanging on’.

Dr Lysaght said that humans need to interfere less with natural habitats if the level of endangered wildlife is to improve.

‘For a lot of the species, we need small changes, but a lot of people doing them,’ he said.

‘In terms of land management, just giving wildlife the space – not every single corner of fields to be intensively managed, and let your hedgerows flower.’

One of the most notable decreases in recent years has been that of the curlew.

The bird used to be prevalent in Ireland, with around 5,000 pairs documented 30 years ago – yet only 130 pairs remain today.

Meanwhile, 33% of bee species in this country are also at risk of extinction.

It’s already too late for some, as well-known wildlife has been lost, with one of the most recent being the corn bunting. Last recorded in Co. Mayo in the 1990s, the bird used to breed across agricultural areas, but the decrease of mixed cropping farming contributed hugely to its extinction.

Wildlife are classified as endangered following a conservation assessment process called red listing, which sees different groups examined, with a decision taken based on internationally recognised criteria.

While climate change is contributing to the demise of some species to a certain extent, human activity is doing the most amount of damage, as over-fishing, land drainage, pollution and the use of chemical sprays and machinery have ‘wiped out’ habitats.

Pádraic Fogarty, author and campaign officer for the Irish Wildlife Trust, said that Ireland is now ‘utterly transformed’, as the increasing influence of humans on nature is demolishing natural breeding areas.

‘The bogs in the midlands have effectively disappeared. There are a few bogs left, but no bog is left intact in Ireland,’ he said.

‘There’s no place in Ireland that has not been affected by humans. Most farmers’ fields don’t have any wildlife in them at all.’

However, not all species that are red listed are a lost cause.

There have been success stories of wildlife that had been on the brink of extinction, only for prevention measures to restore their population.

The pine marten was nearing extinction in the 1970s, but its numbers have now been restored to healthy levels.

According to Mr Fogarty: ‘It was given legal protection, something that didn’t cost money.’

‘There was no actual rescue programmes; it was just illegal for people to shoot them.

‘Once people stopped shooting them, they came back.’

While some species are reaching the end of their days, there are also constant new arrivals, with the most recent being the tree bumblebee, which was first seen in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin last September.

‘Some are natural, but we also have a serious problem with animals and plants being brought in by humans, and many of these tend to be invasive,’ Dr Lysaght said, citing the problematic Japanese knotweed to be among the unwelcome new arrivals.

Prevention measures are being implemented through farm improvement schemes, while the National Biodiversity Centre has also launched its own prevention schemes such as the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.

However, Mr Fogarty said that the solution to the critical level of endangered species lies among politicians, but that ‘there’s very little discussion’ around the issue at a political level.

‘We need politicians to pay attention to this issue,’ he said.

‘We have a National Parks and Wildlife Service, but we don’t give it enough money to do what needs to be done in trying to reverse these trends and setting up the proper programmes to try and rescue our wildlife.’

The NPWS said that while the Department of Arts and Heritage is funding projects, more than just financial support is needed.

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