AN INTERNATIONAL REPORT has found that Ireland is bottom-of-the-class in global environmental ratings.

The Living Planet Report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) finds that Ireland has the 14th highest ecological footprint in global resource consumption impact on a per capita basis.

Ecological footprint is calculated on the individual consumption levels in each country both within its own territorial area as well resources obtained from other countries.

It assesses the use of land, fresh water, timber and energy per person.

An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland, says that Ireland’s import of steel and household goods, fossil fuel, fertiliser, feed for animals and caged fish, sugar products, palm oil, clothes and plastics are linked to significant environmental degradation across the world.

James Nix, An Taisce Policy Director, said:

The up and coming generations will struggle in the future unless our over-consumption is recognised and addressed by all of us.

The WWF report also finds that global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have declined by 52% since 1970.

An Taisce says, ”Ireland is among the world’s most damaging and resource-consuming countries, owing a mounting ecological debt to the rest of the planet.

“The message is simple: the 1992 UN Convention of Biological Diversity has failed.”