Vol. 571 No. 1
1251 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government when he intends to carry out an inventory under the Ramsar Convention of all habitat types, rather than a more restricted inventory under the Habitats Directive. [19647/03]
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), which has been ratified by Ireland, is a multilateral agreement designed to provide a framework for national action and international co-operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, especially as a habitat for wildfowl.
Wetlands include a variety of habitat types. Inventory and survey to date in Ireland has focused on those considered to be most at risk, notably turloughs, lagoons and raised and blanket bogs. Considerable work has been carried out on raised bog habitat in recent years. Survey work continues on blanket bog and lagoon habitat this year.
Many wetlands in Ireland are protected as part of the Natura 2000 network, having met the selection criteria under the EU habitats directive or the EU birds directive, or both. Requirements under the habitats directive in relation to wetland habitat types such as salmonid rivers, turloughs, fen, raised bog and blanket bog subsequently overlap with the objectives under the Ramsar Convention.
In 2002, Ireland participated at the 8th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention in Valencia, Spain. At that conference, Ireland committed to draw up, by 2005, a list of potential Ramsar sites based on the final list of Natura 2000 sites. I am satisfied that we are on course to meet that commitment.
