Funding has been approved for ten local authorities in Cork to appoint biodiversity officers.
The new officers will be given the task of driving local action for biodiversity, developing a biodiversity plan, advising local authorities on biodiversity issues, and establishing a county biodiversity forum.
They will also be expected to assist local authority departments to integrate biodiversity, and promote new biodiversity initiatives.
Once appointed, this will bring the total number of biodiversity officers employed in local authorities around the country to 14, with funding for a further 15 officers to be provided as part of efforts to take greater action for biodiversity at the local level. A full national rollout is expected to be completed in the next three years.
Commenting on the development, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, TD, said:
“It’s fantastic to see the next tranche of Biodiversity Officers are now being recruited around the country. These ten new posts, and the funding for a further 15 that I announced as part of Budget 2023, will have an enormous impact on the ground in helping to deliver action for nature at the local level. The declaration by the Dáil of a biodiversity emergency in 2019 sent a clear signal of how seriously we as a country need to take the biodiversity challenges ahead, and our objectives in the Programme for Government demonstrate this urgency. Today’s announcement is another step in the right direction and it reflects my commitment to ensuring that these objectives are fulfilled and that all local authorities have a sufficient number of heritage and biodiversity officers among their staff complement.”
