Some 63% of Irish bird species are in “serious trouble” compared to almost 50% globally, according to Birdwatch Ireland and RSPB NI.
Yet there was no funding in the Irish Government’s 2023 Budget for nature preservation in a move branded “shameful”.
The comments followed the release of the latest State of the World’s Birds report which “paints the most concerning picture yet of the future of avian species and, by extension, all life on Earth”.
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BirdLife International found one in eight bird species worldwide is now threatened with extinction, almost half are in decline and just 6% increasing.
“Humans are responsible for most of the threats to birds,” the report states.
“Foremost among them are agricultural expansion and intensification which impacts 1,091 globally threatened birds (74%); logging affecting 734 species (50%); invasive alien species which threaten 578 (39%) species; and hunting and trapping which puts 517 (35%) species at risk.”
BWI says the global trend matches the stark picture across the island of Ireland.
The 2021 Bird of Conservation Assessment Birds of Conservation Concern assessment was published by BWI and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Northern Ireland.
It found 25% of Irish birds are in severe decline and a further 37% show moderate declines.
Farmland birds like Curlew, Lapwing, Snipe, Kestrel, Skylark were found to be most at threat with upland and lowland wetland birds also faring badly.
Habitat loss and degradation, river and lake pollution, rodenticide use, overfishing, disturbance by people and dogs, plastic pollution and bird flu add up to make the countryside less and less hospitable for birds, says Oonagh Duggan, Head of Advocacy at BWI.
“The pressures and threats on bird species keep mounting,” she added.
“Largely, sectoral policies in Ireland continue to take from the land and sea without giving anything back to protect and restore habitats for the wildlife they also support.
“Budget 2023 failed to acknowledge or financially address the biodiversity emergency that the Dail declared in 2019.
“The 20% increase in funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service that Minister Malcolm Noonan secured is welcome.
“[But] the stark loss of biodiversity is not getting through to the whole of the Government.
“This is deeply worrying as some bird species may go extinct in the next five to 10 years and habitats may be unrecoverable and that will bring terrible shame to this first world European country.
"Birds are indicators of the health of our environment because they are so well studied. If we fail to restore nature, it means that we are failing to safeguard our own futures on a healthy planet."
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