Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail any steps he is taking to support the restoration of (i) habitats; (ii) species; (iii) woodlands; and (iv) peatlands.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: My Department is supporting restoration of habitats, species, woodlands and peatlands through a range of initiatives and activities, to meet our EIP and nature recovery goals. These include:
The DAERA/NIEA Environment Fund supports nature recovery across Northern Ireland through investment in habitat restoration and enhancement, priority and protected species recovery, woodland conservation and expansion, and practical environmental improvements. The current fund (2023-2028) provides up to £100 million for natural environment projects and complements wider DAERA programmes to protect and restore biodiversity.
DAERA is supporting PEACE PLUS projects for nature recovery: PEAT+ (€19.2 million) and PeacePlus Nature (€20.8 million) to support restoration of peatland and other habitats and support species recovery.
The DAERA Peatland Challenge Fund, a £3 million competitive grant scheme for peatland restoration, funded through the Environment Fund and the Irish Government’s Shared Island Initiative, which is expected to restore 437 hectares of peatland habitat across Northern Ireland and support the development of restoration plans for over 5,000 hectares of peatlands in unfavourable condition.
Conservation Management Plans have been completed for 47 of our Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). These plans include details on the extent and distribution of the protected habitats and species and define the necessary conservation measures required to move the site features towards favourable condition, and therefore provide a framework for conservation action going forward.
NIEA’s Management of Sensitive Sites (MoSS) programme is delivering positive management actions within woodland Areas of Special Scientific Interest, to assist landowners in the improvement the ecological health of these important sites and build resilience for future. This works alongside projects for some of our most threatened ASSI species such as the Marsh Saxifrage, Wood Barley, Forester Moth, Great Burnet and Melancholy Thistle.
DAERA’s Farming with Nature (FwN) Package is providing support, through a number of strands, to help reverse nature loss by creating, restoring, and actively managing important habitats on agricultural land; while also improving the links between them so wildlife can thrive across the landscape. This is happening through the FwN Transition Scheme and FwN Higher Scheme. Further elements of the Package are under development, including a new collaborative, landscape-scale scheme aimed at improving biodiversity and habitat connectivity across wider areas, and a FwN Priority Habitats and Species scheme.
DAERA and NIEA are working in partnership with Irish counterparts to deliver the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2026-30 and support the recovery of ecosystems to support our key pollinator species, with the support of Shared Island, DAFM NPWS and DAERA funding.
We are continuing to invest in enhancing our evidence base on Northern Ireland’s biodiversity to inform our conservation programmes and interventions, publishing a new Living Map of Northern Ireland on the NIEA Natural Environment Map Viewer, while we develop a framework and strategy for our protected areas and to deliver our 30by30 objectives on land.
ENDS
