With increasing pressure on our natural world, and the requirement for significant finance to carry out restoration at scale, uncovering the funding requirements of protecting nature is essential. 

In 2019, WaterLANDS Coordinator, University College Dublin, received funding from Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish Research Council to undertake a Financial Needs Assessment (FNA) for biodiversity conservation and restoration.

The project represents a follow-up to the National Biodiversity Expenditure Review (NBER) that UCD undertook in 2018 to establish how much was being spent on biodiversity conservation and restoration in Ireland at the time.

An update to the Financial Needs Assessment has now been released which examines the direct expenditure needed to meet the aims of Ireland's National Biodiversity Action Plan (2023-2030) along with initial estimates of the amount that will need to be spent to implement the new EU Nature Restoration Law.

The report will be of relevance to people working in the area of restoration and includes estimates for peatland and coastal restoration. The NRL requires Member States to restore at least 20% of degraded land and sea habitats by 2030 and all such habitats by 2050.