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A new Wildfires Action Plan to 2030 has been welcomed by South Down MLA Andrew McMurray, who has described it as a timely and vital intervention following last year's widespread fires across the Mournes and elsewhere.
The plan was published by DAERA Minister Andrew Muir MLA and sets out a multi-agency approach to wildfires, covering prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and enforcement. It follows a year in which around 200 wildfires blazed across countryside areas in Northern Ireland, including the Mournes and Sperrins.
McMurray said: "Last year's wildfires wreaked havoc across the Mournes and elsewhere, devastating communities and nature alike. This action plan is a timely and vital intervention for our countryside and I would like to commend the Minister for working at pace to see it in place ahead of the warmer weather."
The South Down MLA was particularly emphatic about the need to protect the Mournes. "Our Mournes are too precious to allow to go up in smoke; we must protect them, not just for the people who live and work in their shadow, but also for the rich habitats they provide for nature," he said.
McMurray also highlighted the plan's focus on nature and climate change as a positive element, pointing to peatland rewetting as one of the key tools in preventing wildfire spread. "Wildfires, biodiversity decline and climate change are all inter-linked, but so too are the solutions," he said.
Alongside the action plan, Minister Muir also announced the Wildfire Recovery Project, which will be led by the Pau Costa Foundation. The project focuses on a number of at-risk areas, including the Eastern Mournes, Antrim Hills and Carn-Glenshane, and will run for three years.
McMurray welcomed the international involvement. "The international expertise provided by the Pau Costa Foundation is a huge boon for Northern Ireland and I look forward to seeing them deliver the three-year recovery project. We must work alongside landowners, who are the first defence against wildfires. Through better management of our land and a focus on prevention, we will achieve much."
Check it out at www.daera-ni.gov.uk
