Introduction

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The following papers and short communications were among a large number presented at the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland (ESAI) workshop 'Blodiversity-a Natural National Resource' held on 10 and 11November 2000 at the Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Dublin The sold-out conference on blodiversity (the variety of life) during Science Week 2000 demonstrated (1) the importance of natural resources, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, to the sustainabilty of the Irish economy, (2) the role of nature inmaintaining a productive and healthy environment, (3) the value of farmed and natural blodiversity as part of Ireland's natural heritage Biodiversity is in crisis at a global scale, with human-driven extinctions occurring at the fastest rate in theworld's history In Ireland, changing land use, intensification of agriculture, increasing urbanisation and landscape fragmentation are placing new pressures on biodiversity A debate on what level of blodiversity Irish society wants to cultivate and conserve is urgently required The causes of biodiversity loss are primarily economic, so the conservation and enhancement of blo diversity need to be tackled within an economic framework. Ireland needs to include protection of blodiversity in its economic pnoritles. Indeed, biodiversity is a key indicator of sustainable economic growth Ireland and the European Union are obliged under the Convention on Biological Diversity to the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources This complements the promotion of Ireland as 'clean and green' However, the potential benefits of Ireland's natural blodiversity have not been reallsed, owing to insufficient scientific information on the distnbution of living resources both on land and in the sea. The delegates at theworkshop represented key government departments and agencies, non governmental organisations (NGOs), community groups, researchers, educators and environmental professionals They called unammously for more communication on the issue through * A national cross-sectoral platform on blo diversity, * An annual workshop on blodiversity, * A national website addressing all aspects of Ireland's blodiversity. The platform should interact closely with national representatives who contnbute to European Union policy and research development meetings. Action plans for forest and manne biodiversity were outhned at the conference. At the time of writing, the national blodiversity plan has not yet been published, although it had been expected in early 2001. At the conference, presentations were given on progress with blodiversity action plans in Northern Ireland,Wales, Sweden and the European Union as a whole Nature and clhmate do not recognise political borders, so biodiversity plans should be coordinated between neighbouring countries. InNorthern Ireland, biodiversity action plans are the result of collaboration among farming, industry and environmental and government organisations InWales, local groups have achieved real success in conserving biodiversity. The Swedish experience emphasises the need for each sector to be responsible for the management and conservation of itsblodiversity within a framework of broadly accepted guidelines The set of papers and short communications in this issue of Biology and Environment present a range of topics from the conceptual to the practical, from large-scale baseline surveys to species-specific reviews and from the experimental to the methodological. It is hoped that the papers will provide the reader with a flavour of the relevant issues and value of blodiversity and with examples of research projects and surveys being carried out to support the study of blodiversity. It is also hoped that the articles will stimulate further debate on this most crucial of subjects The ESAI (http://www esalweb org) is grateful to the sponsors of the meeting COFORD, the Manne Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency and Duichas Susan Iremonger, Secretary Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland Department of Botany Trinity College, Dublin Mark J Costello, Chairman Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland c/o Ecological Consultancy Services Ltd (Ecoserve) 17 Rathfarnham Road, Terenure Dublin 6W Paul Giller, Proceedings Editor Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology University College, Cork BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS OF THEROYAL IRISHAcADEMY, VOL 102B, No 3, 119 (2002) C ROYAL lazsH AcADEMY 119 ...