Sir, – The recognition of the importance of conserving biodiversity in all the plans and decisions taken at local and national levels which affect our daily lives, together with the national biodiversity conference held in Dublin Castle are extremely welcome developments (Home News, February 22nd) .
Biodiversity is not an issue to be confined to rural locations and farming and fishing communities. It should be deemed of equal importance in the development of our cities and towns.
When considering ways to reduce our fossil fuel derived carbon footprint I believe we should take the trouble to look at the knock-on effect of some of the suggested alternatives and see if there is a better, more nature-friendly, alternative.
No single blanket imposed “solution” suits every location or problem. For example, to me there seems to be little sense in destroying another area of natural habitat in order to distribute heat from burning waste when that heat/energy could be used in a different manner. Perpetuating the production of unnecessary waste, its transport over considerable distances just to burn it plus the additional transport of the resultant ash an even longer distance for final disposal, may well result in other problems and biodiversity loss.
Don’t let this belated realisation of the importance of biodiversity become a nine-day wonder. We need a living planet. – Yours, etc,
L KELLY,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.