This Campaign, called Save Our Nature, is an important campaign run by Bird Watch.
The European Commission has been tasked by its President Jean-Claude Juncker to undertake a review of the Directives with the possibility of merging them. Bird Watch believe, (as does BirdLife International, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and the European Environment Bureau along with NGOs all over Europe) that this is in fact an attempt to weaken the Directives as the push is for economic growth at all costs. We would not have the nature laws in Ireland that we currently have it were not for the Directives. An example of the effectiveness of the Directives is that the Corncrake has been saved from the brink of extinction in Ireland as small numbers grow slowly in the north west of the country. While we know that there are some serious issues with implementation of the Directives in Ireland (e.g. lack of management plans for SACs/SPAs), now is not the time to mess with them.
As part of the Review, the Commission must undertake public consultation and in this case it is in a form of a questionnaire. Along with BirdLife International etc Bird Watch Ireland are asking people to sign the petition/questionnaire that Bird Life have developed which has all the answers filled in already that are most supportive of the Directives. It takes 20 seconds to fill in first name, last name, email and hit submit.
IOA have been asked to let our contact list know what is happening and email the link below. It is very important that we get as many clicks as possible from the general public. Please feel free to share on your facebook page, maybe you could post the link there too. Click here for more
