Research and Outreach services for the Biodiversity Forum

Ireland’s National Biodiversity Forum is convened by the Minister for Heritage and Electoral Reform and comprises 15-20 members including representatives of landowners, farmers, industry, natural heritage and environmental NGOs, Universities and Institutes of Technology, local authorities and representatives from Northern Ireland. Its functions are to: • provide independent monitoring of progress in the on-going implementation of the National Biodiversity Plan (NBAP), highlighting progress and bottlenecks; • ensure ongoing input into the development of national strategies to promote biodiversity conservation, particularly the National Biodiversity Action Plan; • work with the Biodiversity Working Group towards the sectoral integration of biodiversity planning; • improve stakeholder engagement and public awareness and understanding of biodiversity; • promote North/South co-operation in the context of the island as a single bio-geographical entity; • provide progress reports and make recommendations to the Minister as appropriate. A new role has been established for a researcher to support these functions. Their primary duties will be: • Research and reporting on national and international policy developments and their implications for biodiversity in Ireland and the implementation of the NBAP • Coordinating and communicating responses and recommendations from the Forum • Engagement with stakeholders through focus groups, interviews, workshops etc. with representatives of areas such as farming, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, business (tech, finance, retail, food, construction, extraction), eNGO, communities, youth, education and academia (primary, secondary, tertiary). • External communication