Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020.

This Plan is a national cross-sector document aiming to (i) provide a framework for how Ireland will implement the Sustainable Development Goals from 2018-2020s, both domestically and internationally; (ii) support national policies which contribute to meeting the Goals; and (iii) facilitate multi-stakeholder participation. In implementing the SDGs, Ireland will be guided by two key principles (1) every person is entitled to a life of dignity in which they can fulfil their full potential; and (2) the economic, social and environmental requirements of such a life are fundamentally linked and interdependent on each other. At the moment, Ireland’s national Sustainable Development Strategy Our Sustainable Future is an important component of Ireland’s framework for implementing the SDGs. To further integrate the SDGs into national policy, a new Sustainable Development Strategy will be prepared, which will build on Our Sustainable Future and directly reference the SDGs. To achieve the SDGs by 2030, Ireland is adopting a ‘whole-of government’ approach, which means that every Government Department will have a role in implementing the Goals, together with state agencies and local authorities. Listed below are the actions that the Irish government has already included in its development policies and documents in different areas.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the interventions are directed to maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as required by the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021.
In order to make agriculture more productive and sustainable, Ireland will (i) increase focus in agriculture on the efficient use of nutrients and on water quality, as for the River Basin Management Plan (2018-2021); and (ii) develop agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene bank, as for the Global Island.
Rural poverty will be takled through (i) providing community-based public transport system in rural areas to meet local needs; and () developing rural infrastructure.
In order to increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the Government aims to (i) expand and improve management of protected areas and species; (ii) mainstream biodiversity into decision-making across all sectors; (iii) integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; (iv) improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning, as indicated by the National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in Ireland 2014-2020; (v) reduce the vulnerability of the State to the negative effects of climate change through the National Mitigation Plan; (vi) move to a low carbon economy by 2050; and (vii) reduce greenhouse gas emissions.