To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to raise public awareness of the current threats to biodiversity, including the species and habitats most at risk.

I am acutely aware that action is required to halt the loss of biodiversity in Northern Ireland arising from a wide range of pressures and threats.

I was pleased to commend the recent UK Nature Positive 2030 Report, published by NIEA and the other UK nature conservation agencies. This important report highlights the challenges ahead to safeguard and restore nature, setting out how the UK can reverse declines in biodiversity so that species & ecosystems can recover and become Nature Positive by 2030. It was developed in response to the UN Leaders Pledge for Nature to which the UK is a signatory and is designed to inform preparations for the upcoming global conference on biodiversity next Spring, COP15, which will agree the next Global Biodiversity Framework and the pathway to a nature positive future. This will form the basis of our emerging Biodiversity Strategy. The need to become nature positive and reverse biodiversity loss and the link to climate change was indeed reinforced recently at COP26.

This is a critical time for taking action on nature and climate. The report focuses on how we can turn things around for biodiversity, showcasing where interventions in the right place can deliver high nature, low carbon outcomes, including here in Northern Ireland. The report highlighting peatland restoration at the Garron Plateau, lapwing recovery at Portmore Nature reserve, and restoration at Peatlands Park SAC.

While there is no single biodiversity awareness programme, NIEA are developing and rolling out a Nature Engagement Plan, to complement key messages at COP26 and COP15. The engagement plan aims to champion the value and importance of Northern Ireland’s nature and the pressures and threats to local biodiversity and the natural landscape; and engage, inform and educate the public and stakeholders on the state and the importance of nature. This has focused to date on social media messages and videos and will build up towards COP15 which begins in late April 2022.

As part of raising awareness, members of the public have been encouraged to participate in biodiversity monitoring, either through formal surveys or by submitting sightings to the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR), funded by DAERA and hosted by National Museums NI. In addition, the NIEA-administered Environment Fund provides financial support to environmental Non-Governmental Organisations to deliver a wide range of biodiversity advice and educational programmes to the public through grant-aid.

The Department’s Green Growth Strategy will contribute to driving sustainable development and halting biodiversity loss, while the Environment Strategy and, in particular, the revised Biodiversity Strategy currently under development will seek to mitigate against pressures and threats. Raising public awareness will be an important part these strategies as their success will be dependent on a combination of government action and public support.