This Wildlife Legislation Review represents an opportunity to carry out a root and branch review of the legal system and how it deals with environmental issues. This is an opportunity to look at the overall system, and evaluate why it has failed to date, to identify the solutions and to implement the ambitious changes needed to address the problems, with a view to providing legislation which is fit for purpose for the next fifty years.

Background and documents from Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the public consultation review can be found here.

This review should not focus on incremental change, it is an opportunity to broaden the scope and consider what the purpose of this legislation is, what it is that we want to achieve with the Wildlife Act now, and for the next fifty years, and how that can act in synergy with existing European legislation. For too long the focus for environmental protection has been almost exclusively on compliance with EU legislation, with little focus or consideration given to national legislation. It is critical that in this review we focus on what our wildlife needs are nationally, not just how we comply with EU legislation.  

The questions we would pose are: 

What are the gaps? 

What are the failures and conflicts between the various pieces of environmental legislation? 

What is it that we want to achieve with this national legislation?  

How do we elevate the legal standing of national wildlife legislation, to ensure it is taken equally as seriously as EU legislation is? 

This review offers the opportunity for a reset, one which is clearly required. Tinkering around the edges and incremental change will not deliver the nature protection we now clearly need. 

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Submission from An Taisce can be found here.

Images: Wikimedia Commons