Index Home Join IPCC

Action 7. European Habitats & Species Protection

The Habitats Directive (EC Council Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Flora and Fauna, Directive 92/43/EEC) provides an opportunity for Ireland's natural peatland heritage to be given international recognition. The Directive was brought into Irish law by the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations which came into force in 1997.

Under the terms of the Directive, EU member States are required to establish a network of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). These sites form the Natura 2000 network which is designed to maintain in favourable conservation status, both the distribution and abundance of important habitats and species across Europe. Ireland has a responsibility to designate SACs for a total of 61 habitat types and 26 species, listed in Annex I and Annex II of the Directive respectively.

The Directive identifies certain species and habitats as "priority" because they are particularly threatened in global terms, and the European Community contains a significant proportion of their natural range.

The sites proposed by each State are subject to a process of assessment and negotiation between the Commission and Member states, via a series of seminars arranged for each of the EU biogeographical regions. The result of these seminars will be a final list of Sites of Community Importance (SCIs).

Ireland is a member of the Atlantic Biogeographical Region which also includes the UK, Netherlands and parts of Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and Denmark. Seminars to assess this region's proposed list of SACs were held in Kilkee, Co. Clare and Paris in 1999.

The outcome of the seminars was that the Irish Government was deemed to have proposed an insufficient number of sites for 57 of the 61 habitats and 24 of the 26 species, giving Ireland one of the poorest performances in Europe in relation to the Habitats Directive (WWF 2001). The Irish Government was required to propose additional sites to ensure a sufficient representation of those habitats and species. This was especially so in relation to peatland habitats and species.

This outcome led five of the major Irish environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to launch a joint, co-operative effort to ensure that Irish habitats and species are adequately protected under the Habitats Directive. This group consisted of An Taisce, BirdWatch Ireland, Coastwatch Ireland, Irish Wildlife Trust and the IPCC.

The group set about preparing a comprehensive shadow list of sites to ensure the protection of those Irish habitats and species listed in the Habitats Directive. This shadow list was published in 2000 and contained 621 sites (Dwyer 2000). A summary of the information contained in the report in relation to peatland habitats and species is given in Table 1.

IPCC are proposing a further 424 peatland habitat sites and 69 peatland species sites for designation as SACs. This information has been submitted to Irish Government and EU for adoption.

IPCC are concerned at the level of damage being inflicted on proposed candidate SACs. In 2001 various damage had been reported on 71 peatland SAC throughtout the country. Damage was caused by a number of factors including afforestation, erosion, water pollution, mechanical and hand cutting of turf, moss peat extraction, agricultural reclamation, overgrazing, burning, drainage and trampling caused by visitors. In addition a number of SAC boundary changes have occurred on bogs as a result of economic pressure. This situation is unacceptable if the SAC process is to achieve its primary objective of maintaining threatened habitats in a favourable state of conservation.

General Objective
To ensure that a representative sample of sites for peatland habitats and species are established as SACs under the Habitats Directive.

In the drafting of the Habitats Directive IPCC was present at the debates and successfully lobbied for Irish peatland habitats to be given priority status within the Directive.

Following completion of the Directive, IPCC lobbied the Irish Government to transpose the Directive into Irish law and initiate the process of SAC selection. IPCC has participated in the SAC Appeals Board process. We monitor damage to SACs, particularly where this leads to de-designation of sites. This information has formed the basis of a number of complaints to the EU. We have assisted the EU in preparing a case to the European Court on the failure of the Government of Ireland to properly implement the Habitats Directive, particularly on the issue of representivity of peatland habitats and species designated to date and we monitor the status of SACs.

Actions
3.7.1 All declared SACs should be reviewed to include SAC designations for all habitats and species of European interest contained within them.

3.7.2 All SAC boundaries should be revised to protect the integrity of sites and promote their restoration.

3.7.3 More SACs should be designated for habitats and species that are currently under-represented in the Natura 2000 network.

3.7.4 Boundary changes on SACs should be based on scientific criteria and not on economic or social concessions.

3.7.5 Mandatory restoration of SACs damaged by developers should be enforced.

Table 1: Extract from the report Habitats Directive, NGO SAC Shadow List 2000, Republic of Ireland (Dwyer 2000) showing peatland habitats and related species and the progress towards protecting a network of sites as SACs.

Habitat Code	Habitat Type	Sites Under Consideration	Sites Transmitted to EU	Additional Sites Proposed by IPCC
4010	Wet Heaths	30	23	28
4030	Dry Heaths	41	23	30
4060	Alpine & Subalpine Heaths	31	22	8
7110	Active Raised Bog	31	29	30
7120	Degraded Raised Bog	0	0	139
7130	Active Blanket Bog	46	39	82
7140	Transition Mires	8	7	21
7150	Rhynchosporion Depressions	0	0	0
7210	Cladium Fens	9	4	34
7220	Petrifying Springs	15	10	8
7230	Alkaline Fens	30	20	32
91D0	Bog Woodlands	7	5	12
1065	Euphydryas aurinia	8	3	19
1014	Vertigo angustior	10	7	2
1013	Vertigo geyeri	7	6	1
1016	Vertigo moulinsiana	7	6	0
1833	Najas flexilis	24	17	2
1355	Lutra lutra	38	20	43
1528	Saxifraga hirculus	4	2	0
1393	Drepanocladus vernicosus	19	9	2
1395	Petapyllum ralfsii	18	12	0

Further information: The EU Habitats Directive - Great SAC Race Report 2000