It’s Time To Call In The Armybecause the Park and its unique biodiversity is the backbone of recreation, spiriual norishment  & commerce in the South-west of Ireland.

 

 

Today we are seeing mass damage and destruction to the environment and people’s lives on a scale that has never been seen before in history. This sort of destruction is seriously impacting the natural world-the source of life. Our planetary boundaries (i.e., safe operating space for humanity) on a number of fronts, for example biological diversity, have already been crossed.  Other planetary boundaries includes ‘land use’, ‘fresh water use’ and ‘biogeochemical flows’. The more we cross our planetary boundaries the greater the threat to our survival by making Earth less inhabitable.

Just Forests are now calling on the Government to put the necessary financial and legal instruments in place to make the proper removal of rhododendron from every garden, hedge row, field, forest and woodland in this area compulsory as a matter of urgency. We are calling for an Invasive Species Action Plan For Kerry & Cork Region. The objectives of the plan is to eradicate rhododendron and control the spread of existing invasive alien species (IAS) and to prevent any new IAS from becoming established in the Kerry/Cork region.

The real value of biodiversity to tourism, agriculture, fisheries and the forestry sectors in Ireland is priceless and beyond question. It is now time to act and give the next generation the security of a functioning and healthy natural world before it’s too late. It is not unusual for small States around the world to deploy their armies to act in the Public Interest – now is such a time for Ireland.

Just Forests will continue this on-line public campaign as long as it takes to get  the  Minister for Defence, Enda Kenny, T.D., to deploy the defence forces  to eradicate the rhododendron problem for once and for all. Then the maintenance work of voluntary bodies such as Killarney Mountain Meitheal (of which Just Forests is a member) will be much more successful and enjoyable.

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