Protected Areas

There are other kinds of protected areas, all labelled with a bewildering array of acronyms - NHAs and pNHAs, SPAs and SACs*. These all exist because of our membership of the European Union (EU) or because of international treaties on the conservation of nature that we have ratified. In the past our international duty to implement these obligations has sometimes been slow and reluctant. We do not have an international reputation for being a country that’s proactive about conservation.

Local authorities increasingly employ staff whose job includes the preservation of biodiversity. One way forward may be to encourage the formation of small local nature reserves run by county and city councils. Public access to these reserves would have to be regulated according the fragility of the habitat preserved and the vulnerability to disturbance of the species in it.


* NHA: National Heritage Area
  pNHA: proposed National Heritage Area
  SPA: Special Protection Area
  SAC: Special Area of Conservation

All of Ireland's protected areas can be viewed on the NPWS website here.