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Ireland will use the funding to expand and enforce its marine protected areas to meet the EU target of 30pc protected waters by 2030.
The European Commission today (22 February) announced an investment of €233m to fund 12 environmental and climate projects across Europe.
Ireland will receive €15.14m towards developing its network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Irish waters.
Other projects include: improving air quality and reducing energy poverty in Poland; developing regional biodiversity action plans in Finland; restoring peatlands in Austria; and a cross-border project in Spain, France and Andorra to accelerate climate adaptation in the Pyrenees by improving knowledge and ability to cope with the climate crisis.
The EU’s Life programme has been funding climate and environmental actions since 1992 and has contributed to more than 5,500 projects to date.
Marine protected areas
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are designated bodies of water that are free of people, pollution and industrial fishing that can become havens for marine ecosystems to regenerate and flourish.
Last year, the UN reached a landmark deal to protect the world’s high seas (areas of ocean outside of national boundaries). This deal aims to see large-scale marine protected areas established to tackle environmental degradation, fight the climate crisis and prevent biodiversity loss across the world’s high seas. It’s an important step towards the UN’s goal of protecting 30pc of the world’s oceans by 2030.
The EU’s Biodiversity Strategy 2030 also aims to protect 30pc of its seas by 2030, including 10pc under strict protection for areas of high biodiversity value.
In December 2022, the Irish Government published a general scheme for drafting a Marine Protected Areas Bill which will identify MPA sites and features to be protected and the processes, roles and responsibilities involved.
The bill includes a goal of protecting 30pc of Irish waters by 2030, in line with the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy. On the Government’s website, it states that the bill is expected to be progressed in the second half of 2023. It has yet to be progressed.
A group of environmental NGOs criticised the Government last October for failing to publish this key legislation to protect Irish seas. Speaking at the time, BirdWatch Ireland’s head of advocacy Oonagh Duggan said: “This is not a bill that can be delayed any further. We need to see action now.”
Ireland’s diverse marine environment is one of the largest in the EU at nearly 10 times its land area. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the level of environmental stress on Ireland’s coastal waters has increased in recent years with the potential for many negative impacts.
For example, fish stocks in Irish waters have fallen because of pressures from overfishing, physical disturbance and damage to seafloor habitats. The climate crisis is also causing impacts as ocean temperatures have increased with marine heatwaves and increased acidification noted in Irish waters last year.
However, the Irish Government has taken steps to increase areas of protection. A recent initiative to create special protected areas off the coast of Wexford brings the total area of Irish waters under protection to about 10pc.
The funding announced today will support the improvement and expansion of Ireland’s MPAs. According to the project website, the project will deliver “a network of objective-driven, well-managed, monitored and enforced MPAs”.
“This will be achieved through a participatory ecosystem-based management process involving the co-design, co-production and co-delivery of outcomes in close collaboration with marine stakeholder and citizens.”
The coordinating beneficiary of the funding is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with University of Galway, University College Dublin and University College Cork also listed as beneficiaries.
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