Science

May is a festive month and a highlight is National Biodiversity Week

Ireland at first glance looks an impressively green and verdant landscape but it actually cloaks a remarkable lack of biodiversity

Half of all our trees are from one species, Stika spruce, which is an import from North America. The Sitka produces quality wood but it does not contribute to a diverse and balanced ecosystem. Photograph: iStock

Stuart Mathieson
Thu May 9 2024 - 00:00

May is a month of festivity. Spring gives way to summer. There’s Bealtaine, the bank holiday, Listowel Writers’ Week, and West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival. Most exciting of all, perhaps, is National Biodiversity Week. This festival, which runs from May 17th to May 26th, coincides with the United Nations International Day for Biological Diversity (May 22nd), and features walks, talks, cycles, safaris and the 12th annual Biodiversity Photographer of the Year competition.

This island is justifiably famous for its geography, but what is at first glance an impressively green and verdant landscape actually cloaks a remarkable lack of biodiversity.

Of course, islands naturally tend to have a limited range of species due to their isolation. Charles Darwin’s observation of how different species of finch on the Galápagos Islands had beaks adapted to their individual islands was a key part of his theory of evolution. Yet even by the standards of islands we rank poorly.

For instance, look at our forests. At 11 per cent Ireland has relatively low forest cover. This is a significant improvement from the formation of the State in 1922, when it was at just over 1 per cent. Even in my lifetime forest cover has doubled.

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Yet half of all our trees are from one species, Stika spruce, which is an import from North America. The Sitka produces quality wood, not least for acoustic guitars but it doesn’t contribute to a diverse and balanced ecosystem.

Like the Sitka’s native Pacific northwest, Ireland was once a temperate rainforest. These are lush, biodiverse ecosystems with mild temperatures, abundant rainfall, and dense vegetation. Similar forests are found in Japan and Tasmania, where they support a diverse range of life, including several unique species.

Pollen deposits in peatland suggest that by the early modern period Ireland was blanketed in rainforest, with roughly 80 per cent forest coverage. These native trees were also economically significant, producing paper, timber and resin. In contrast to their conifer cousin, however, they contribute to a biodiverse ecosystem by supporting other plants and animals, regulating water retention, and stabilising soil in the native habitats to which they were adapted.

The vast majority of native trees were cleared throughout the early modern era. As the island’s population boomed extensive deforestation cleared space for settlements, agriculture, fuel and commerce. Colonialism exacerbated this process as landowners sought to maximise the value of their estates through agriculture. Even hillsides were cleared of trees to create sheep pastures; this and overgrazing contribute to the characteristically bald look of our mountains.

Industrialisation also created demand for timber to build ships, barrels and buildings. Peat extraction supplemented firewood as a fuel source, but degraded wetland ecosystems and caused habitat loss.

Contemporary efforts to protect and restore our remaining temperate forests and other biodiverse habitats include conservation, sustainable land management and reforestation. Rewilding is one approach to this by restoring historical ecosystems in the hope that over the long term they will be able to function without human intervention. Ultimately this should create resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems that harbour a diverse range of species.

Oostvaardersplassen is a wetland reserve in the Netherlands that has been rewilded since the 1980s with the reintroduction of horses, cattle and deer. In Scotland a trial reintroduction of beavers, extinct there since the 16th century, has been a qualified success. Similarly, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone caused some early disruption but is generally seen as having created a more robust ecosystem.

Locally we have seen the successful reintroduction of raptor species such as white-tailed eagles and red kites, with ospreys next on the list. Restoring the wolves and lynx that once roamed our temperate rainforest would be a huge task and require careful management. But it would be undeniably cool and exciting.

In the meantime more incremental work on biodiversity continues. Ireland is now on its fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan, which launched in January. For the first time, however, a statutory duty has been imposed on public sector bodies to have regard for its targets and objectives. This reflects one half of the “whole of government, whole of society” approach in the plan. If you would like to help with the other half supporting and participating in National Biodiversity Week is a great place to start.

Stuart Mathieson is research manager at InterTradeIreland

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