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Foot Dragging on Conservation

For release 1 February 2001

The Editor,
The Irish Times,

Dear Sirs,

Your readers would be quite right to be concerned over the minimalist approach of the present Government to the designation and protection of nature conservation areas of all kind. ("Foot dragging on conservation", The Irish Times 26 January).

The joint Irish Non-Governmental Organisation Shadow list, (which was prepared for the forthcoming Nature Topic Centre's Bio-Regional Conference on European Special Areas of Conservation [SACS] under the Habitats Directive), not only urgently suggests that additional protection is needed. NGOs have also found that there was too little research available for some species (such as the twaite shad and the lamprey) to allow for any meaningful assessment.

It was in this context that we had great hopes for the National Bio-diversity Plan which is being developed by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaelteacht and the Islands as part of Ireland's commitment to the Rio Convention.

Yet in the formulation of this national plan, consultation with environmental groups consisted of a sole call for submission in 1997 and one recent meeting.

At this meeting, officials of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaelteacht and the Islands read from the subject headings of the draft National Bio diversity Plan which is being circulated inter-departmentally. But NGOs were not allowed sight of the document - let alone a copy.

It is abundant clear that the way in which consultation process has been handled over the last four years shows just how far we are from real and meaningful cooperation between the Department and the NGOs.

Why is the department so reluctant to engage in professional, meaningful dialogue with NGO's? It is not, as is Michael Viney's perception (Saturday, 28 January), that Irish NGOs react negatively to even the best conservation initiatives, but rather that our views are seldom genuinely sought before it is too late.

Tony Lowes, An Taisce;

Paul Galvin, Birdwatch;

Peter Foss, Irish Peatland Conservation Council

Lorraine Dufficey, Irish Wildlife Trust;

Ruth McGrath, V.O.I.C.E.

___________________________________________

Irish Peatland Conservation Council
119 Capel Street
Dublin 1
Ireland

Tel: +353-1-8722384
Fax: +353-1-8722397

e-mail: bogs@ipcc.ie
web: http://www.ipcc.ie

IPCC - Action for Bogs & Wildlife - Ag caomhnu na bportach

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