Ireland’s fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP), published in 2024, set out a vision for biodiversity progress until 2050. The overarching idea is that biodiversity is now integrated into the decision-making process across all areas of Government. The strategy aims to tackle what is widely accepted as a biodiversity emergency using a “whole of Government, whole of society approach”.
There is widespread recognition now that biodiversity loss has enormous consequences for economies and societies, as well as for the environment. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation costs the global economy an estimated $10 trillion (€8.86 trillion) annually.
More than 75 per cent of crops, for example, are driven by pollinators, and the loss of species destabilises food systems, risking crop failure and fishery crises. The WHO estimates that the decline in the bee population alone poses a $235 billion a year threat to global food output. The loss of forests and the degradation of natural carbon sinks including wetlands contributes to global warming. Upsetting the balance of nature’s ecosystems also contributes to natural disasters including flooding, droughts and wildfires.
Conversely, numerous studies have demonstrated that investment in biodiversity restoration has outsized economic payoffs.
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The key objective of the NBAP is to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through co-ordinated action to protect, restore and sustainably manage terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Implementation of the NBAP is co-ordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) through the Interdepartmental Biodiversity Working Group. The plan is subject to annual implementation reporting, providing a mechanism to track progress, identify challenges and support accountability for delivery.
The most recently published assessment of implementation was published in February 2026. That report found that almost 80 per cent of the actions were either complete or on track, with 44 actions fully completed since publication of the plan.
According to the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, under whose remit the plan sits, the report highlights progress in mainstreaming biodiversity across government policy, strengthening governance arrangements, introducing biodiversity reporting obligations for public bodies, advancing conservation and restoration measures, and progressing preparation of Ireland’s National Nature Restoration Plan (NRP).
The real prospect of significant fines if Ireland doesn’t reach the biodiversity targets set out in its Nature Restoration Plan is one that will concentrate minds in the years ahead
The NRP is a EU-driven initiative where Ireland, along with other member states, has been mandated to develop legally binding national plans to contribute to the repair of Europe’s degraded habitats, an estimated 81 per cent of which are in poor ecological health.
For environmental campaigners, progress on the biodiversity agenda cannot come fast enough. Fintan Kelly, senior land use officer at the Irish Environmental Network, says while the existence of a national plan is positive, its effectiveness is limited by a fractured Government approach and a lack of resources.
Kelly says the network made a detailed submission to the public consultation on the fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan.
“Our assessment was that the NBAP risked becoming another largely aspirational plan: it contained worthwhile commitments but lacked the legal force, measurable outcomes, responsible actors, funding, enforcement capacity and cross-government alignment needed to reverse biodiversity loss. Our overarching demand was for an NBAP that treated biodiversity as a national emergency and required agriculture, forestry, fisheries, infrastructure, climate and economic policies to support – not undermine – the recovery of nature.”
Among the issues on which he would like to see progress are a dedicated ring-fenced long-term budget, and progress to facilitate enabling actions on public lands. “There are also a lot of easy things that could be done that we don’t see happening,” he adds.
The real prospect of significant fines if Ireland doesn’t reach the biodiversity targets set out in its Nature Restoration Plan is one that will concentrate minds in the years ahead. As Kelly puts it, paying public money in fines when we could have been investing it instead to gain the many benefits associated with nature restoration amounts to a form of “economic illiteracy”.
According to the department, the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan, intends to create a new overarching strategy to incorporate the NBAP and the Nature Restoration Plan.
The department says this will ensure continued alignment between national biodiversity policy and Ireland’s legally binding EU nature restoration commitments, while providing an opportunity to consider wider developments in the biodiversity policy landscape and to ensure that national actions remain targeted towards achieving Ireland’s biodiversity and restoration ambitions through to 2030.
