Laois biodiversity officers outlines efforts at developing biodiversity in the county
Image for illustration purposes only
AT the latest meeting of Laois Co Council, biodiversity office Lisa Doyle addressed the council on ongoing efforts at maintaining and developing biodiversity in the county.
Among the events this year to raise awareness of biodiversity was a countywide photography competition, which was targeted at all skill levels, from amateurs to almost professional photographers. Many of the photos taken ended up in the official biodiversity plan, which Mrs Doyle showed to the councillors.
Beginning her presentation, Mrs Doyle highlighted how councillors’ childhood memories of climbing trees, fishing in rivers or picking berries is fast disappearing, with current generations of young people becoming disconnected from nature at an alarming rate. Dáil Eireann, she explained, had, in recent times, declared a biodiversity crisis with half of our pollinators experiencing difficulty, grassland in decline and rivers, such as the Barrow, facing difficulty, especially from encroaching invasive species like Japanese Knotweed.
In response to the declaration of a national biodiversity crisis, the government mandated that each council devise a full biodiversity plan by the end of 2026.
Lisa explained that she is the first biodiversity officer in Laois. She explained: “And a lot of my role will be awareness, education, bringing people along, supporting them in whatever actions they would like to do and you might wonder, why bother, what's all the fuss, well, we are a part of nature … we need clean air, clean food, wood water nutrients, pollinators and 70 per cent of medicine comes from nature from what is called ecosystem services and they are called that because they provide a service to us and it's worth about €59 million and globally it's worth €125 billion, but of course, I don’t think you can put a price on our health and environment.” Studies show that many people in Laois are concerned about local biodiversity issues, including the impacts of hedgerows and tree cutting and river pollution especially.
Mrs Doyle explained that the cornerstones of biodiversity are to mind what you have in the first instance, enhance what’s degraded in the second and then find new opportunities in the third.
Highlighting peoples’ interest in getting involved with biodiversity and being out in nature, Mrs Doyle listed some of the events and initiatives that had drawn huge numbers this year, including the seed libraries scheme, bat walks conducted in an around Stradbally Hall, riverbank cleanings and the Laois Bird Watch Project, to name but a few.
The presentation was met with resounding enthusiasm by all the councillors.
Cllr Paddy Buggy, recalling a time when he was a young man on the farm chopping barley with a scythe, expressed the view that much of the biodiversity loss the country had suffered as a whole stemmed from both European and government policy aimed at increasing food production with no consideration given to the environment. Cllr Buggy was pleased that approach had changed in recent years, but he urged the council and the biodiversity officer to watch out for the threat of urbanisation in the context of biodiversity.
Cllr Vivienne Phelan praised the work Lisa was doing and highlighted how, at a recent conference where multiple counties were considered in relation to the quality of their approach to biodiversity, Laois was put forward as the national exemplar of how to carry out biodiversity in the best way possible.
