Our only choices are tough ones - Disconnect on environment
There are ever-more strident warnings about environmental destruction and the inevitable consequences for all life on this planet. On Saturday, as conservationists marched in Fermoy to get Cork County Council to clear a safe passage for Blackwater salmon blocked at Fermoy weir, the inaugural World Curlew Day was held.
It concentrated on the collapse of the Irish population, down 96% in less than 40 years. The National Parks and Wildlife Service found numbers were far lower than believed, with fewer than 150 breeding pairs discovered. This means the curlew will be extinct as a breeding species in Ireland within a decade.
At the same time EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan, speaking in Kilkenny, said farmers must become “indispensable” in tackling energy and climate challenges. He said the EPA reported that in 2016, our ammonia emissions breached EU limits for the first time and emissions for three of the five main pollutants are going in the wrong direction.
At the same time, incredibly, Government promotes unsustainable farm plans and nitrate derogations. In another example of hypocrisy and disconnect Heather Humphreys, in an earlier role, promoted efforts to help the curlew but also lobbied to allow farmers to burn randomly in the uplands, the habitat the remnants of our curlew population depend on.
It is long past the time we can pretend that we can have it both ways. Unless we grow up quickly catastrophe looms.
