On my third birthday John F. Kennedy said, “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” He was speaking of weighty social issues, but his point is universal, the least we can do is make the world safe for diversity. All these years later, the problems JFK was addressing in Washington D.C. haven’t gone away and we’ve got many new ones to add to them.
Bio-diversity was not a word in common use in 1963 but it’s everywhere now; it refers to the fantastic varieties of life that make the world what it is. But scientists are warning us every day of threats to this wonderful life-filled world of ours: species are disappearing. It seems like never before the future of the natural world as we know it is in our hands.
I got an email today telling me that in much of Europe, numbers of common countryside birds have declined by almost 50%: forty species of butterflies are threatened, bees are disappearing and with these insect losses comes a threat to pollination, and so a threat to food production and yet more question marks over the future.
Most scientists are attributing these declines to changes that have occurred in agricultural and industrial production methods over the last two centuries, so what can we do? Well, there’s a lot we can do, actually. Some of it involves writing letters, and getting informed and getting involved. Information is more readily accessible now than it has ever been and in the words of Francis Bacon “Knowledge itself is power.”
Then there’s the nitty-gritty, hands-on, dirty finger-nail stuff like tree-or hedge-planting: things that you can point out to your kids and say “I did that.”
If you’re a farmer in REPS or a town planner or a gardener, the time is coming around again for finalising the details of what you’re going to be planting next Winter. There will probably be millions of trees planted in Ireland this year and where REPS and local authorities are concerned the “native species” message has got through and we will see miles of new Whitethorn hedge on REPS farms and no doubt a healthy mix of Cherry, Hazel, Rowan etc., on the road verges and in the parks.
But in the middle of all this good work a serious problem has arisen, a direct threat to our native bio-diversity. It is clear that the vast majority of hedgerow plants available from nurseries and garden centres in Ireland are imported from mainland Europe, and those nurseries that do produce their own plants are generally using imported seed. This is not an issue for economics. The market cannot determine what gets planted. The Government produced a National Biodiversity Plan in 2002 and two of its “Overall Objectives” were to “Conserve Species-Diversity” and to “Conserve Genetic Diversity.”
Plants grown from native seed are more suitable to local conditions: studies show them to be healthier and more resistant to disease. Generally speaking the more local your seed-source, the better your plants will do. Local authorities and Teagasc should work together to ensure that seeds are gathered locally and that these seeds are available to the local tree nurseries and producers.
So this year, wherever possible, ensure that you are planting genuine native trees and plants. If they are not available hassle your local representatives, make an issue of it. To paraphrase JFK, it’s the least we can do.
Mini Bio: Mark McDowell is PRO of The Hedge-Laying Association of Ireland.
LP: Protect existing hedgerows by keeping a watchful eye on when they are being cut. Do your best to persuade your friends and relatives NOT to dig up that ancient hedge on their new home-site, and be aware that you are destroying the natural habitat and breeding areas for lovely song birds when you unnecessarily remove a hedge.
To get more information on improving, training and the laws protecting hedgerows, contact Mark at HLAI |
