The Chairman of the IFA’s Environment Committee has told the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss that when it comes to biodiversity, farmers are “the boots on the ground” and look after 70% of the countryside.
Paul O’Brien appealed on behalf of the Irish Farmers’ Association for the Assembly to take full account of farmers’ views when framing their recommendations to the Government.
He said overall biodiversity policy will have to be incentive based and that new funding, outside of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, will need to be provided.
Earlier Dr Darragh Ó hUallacháin, a senior researcher with Teagasc told the Assembly that, currently, 75% of all spending on biodiversity protection in Ireland comes through the Common Agricultural Policy.
Farmers are ‘the boots on the ground’ in biodiversity
Source: Viral Trends Report
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