Northern Ireland’s list of ‘under threat, increasingly rare and important' species has ‘sadly’ risen from 481 to 594 over the past 12 years.
The rise of 113 emerged as the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs completed its review of the 'priority species list' on January 30.
The aim of the list, last updated in 2010, is to identify plants, insects and wildlife in need of conservation support.
Read more: Big Pointless Plastic photo contest winners show how our litter plagues nature
And some 113 new species including grey seals, all bat species, five new shark, skate and ray species, a bumblebee, seabirds like the razorbill and kittiwake, and 49 moths now need help to survive.
Annika Clements from Ulster Wildlife said: “They have added loads of new species.”
But the charity’s director of Nature, Climate and Environment says she’s more concerned none of the 481 species identified as needing conservation support in 2010 have seen their populations recover enough to come off it.
She told us: “Basically there hasn’t been significant improvement for any of those species.
“They are still on there - and what happened is that they have added a load more. It’s quite sad. Even though we’ve got this list, it hasn’t really worked.”
Priority species lists are required under the WANE (Wildlife and Natural Environment) Act 2011 and are supposed to be used for “public bodies to take steps to further the conservation of such priority species and habitats, and to promote others to take such action”.
Annika added: “None of the species have been able to come off and instead we add a whole rake of new ones.
“So now we have a very long list of species that need to have particular effort focused on them.
“Basically it shows our public bodies’ biodiversity duties haven’t worked,” she continued.
“It’s being discussed quite a lot at the moment because DAERA is developing this new biodiversity strategy due to be finalised this year.”
Annika says the biggest threats to wildlife and other species in Northern Ireland stem from land-use change like agricultural intensification which she blames “perverse policies” and not farmers for as well as pollution, emissions, nitrates, fertilisers and the climate crisis.
“We have lost so much of so much of the rough margins on fields, hedgerows [and] when we look at this across this land we have lost so much good habitat for lots of different... and those connections between the habitats as well,” she explained.
“The only good thing is about Brexit is that we move quickly to change those policies.”
In order to reduce help species on the priority list, Annika says: “I think it’s [priority species list] too vague, that’s the problem.
“It’s a very complicated list, there’s a lot of different species and environments on that list.
“If I was the Department of Health managing hospital grounds - how would I make a difference and what would my motivation be if there wasn’t funding and support to make a difference?”
Annika says authorities also need to find a way to track and monitor biodiversity for any improvements, even when action is taken.
“We need to have really clear targets... [and] we absolutely need legally binding targets. Public bodies then need to have a duty to report - a bit like they have to do with greenhouse gas emissions now.
“It needs to be on a similar footing with a lot of the approaches being used for climate change. You need to be reporting on your biodiversity action and there needs to measurable progress.”
An RSPB NI spokesperson said: "The priority species list is a list of species which require conservation action because of their decline, rarity and importance.
"Unfortunately, this extended list of priority species serves only to confirm what we know already. Nature in Northern Ireland is in crisis. We are languishing 229th worst out of 240 countries for the amount of nature it has left, 25% of bird species are at risk from extinction, 97% wildflower meadows are gone, 36% of the features in NI’s Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs) are in unfavourable condition, and just 1 out of 21 lakes are in good quality.
"Never has there been a more critical time for urgent action to protect and restore nature creating a nature positive future. A Nature Positive approach will ensure we have more nature at the end of the decade than we started with, putting us on an upward path to restoring the health of nature by 2050.
"That is why, RSPB NI is calling for the next Biodiversity Strategy for Northern Ireland to set clear and ambitious targets and actions to secure a nature positive world by 2030, all set within new and strengthened legal and policy frameworks to secure nature’s recovery by 2025."
You can see the new list at https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/northern-ireland-priority-species.
READ NEXT:
- Curlews and corncrakes at risk of extinction while puffins in peril
- Tyrone goldmine protest brings families over border as Galantas eyes up Leitrim
- New air pollution site reveals the toxins outside your front door
- DAERA facing legal action over gas caverns near Game of Thrones site
- 'Badgers should be vaccinated for bovine TB not killed'
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
