时间：2022-10-07 06:24:00
The beautiful land of Ireland has bred many talented poets as well as touching legend that it is the hometown of famous poet， playwright and proser William Butler Yeats. It is also the birthplace of Messiah and the Last Rose of Summer. It has the camp field of battles and grassland of horse racing in the movie of Braveheart and the long and narrow beach flying with "blue flag" in the movie of Saving Private Ryan.
The castle， greenbelt and bell tone in the island country of jade
The Republic of Ireland lies in North Atlantic Ocean and sees east British crossing Irish Sea. This small country in west Europe has always been called the "Island Country of Jade" that trees shade the street， grasslands spread the country as well as rivers and lakes. It keeps very good natural environment.
Grassland and pasture cover 80% of the total area of Ireland and plow land and forest land account for 75% of the land area. It has clean air， less dust and very small pollution source of manufacturing industry. The rich precipitation brings large area of pasture and farmland that the output value of agriculture and husbandry accounts for 46% of GDP and 80% of the products are exported. The agricultural and animal products in Ireland have great export volume and world reputation and its purebred horse is welcomed by horse-loving people around the world. All of these are benefiting from good natural environment.
The central part of Ireland is surrounded by mountains with beautiful scenery and beaches， which is a great place in Europe as well as a good destination for tourism. The warm current moistens the temperate gulf and rugged cliff stretches along the 5600 kilometers of coastline. There are green villages， winding beaches， zigzagging lakeshore and clean rivers.
"The most impressive thing in Ireland is the green land and scarce people，" said Guo Geng， expert of environmental protection. He used "castle， greenbelt and bell tone" to describe the scenery of Ireland： "the Liva River goes across the city with canoe occasionally as well as swan and wild duck. Out of the city is the green grassland， arcadian farmland， simple and unsophisticated castle and lofty church with steeple top." "When walking in the quiet morning， on the empty street， besides old people with dogs and bumble drunken man， it is the cars that rolling by. Therefore， the bell tone from the church becomes extremely clear， solemn and touching."
The tourism in Ireland is next to the agriculture and animal husbandry. It is the main source of foreign exchange earnings with 1.7 million tourists every year and a steady development for many years. In recent years， the number of Chinese tourists to the country increases fast and covering 30% of the total. It is trying to boost tourism， especially for the inbound tourism of emerging countries.
The heaven of animals and plants
The revenue size of Ireland is not that big but it has various landforms as well as dense river and abundant wateryield. 2/3 of the land is improved farmland and the rest 1/3 is pastures of poor quality， forests and tree farms. The soil here develops under the condition of rich rainfall， if the soil parent material can be penetrated， it can become podsol and brown soil and if it is clay or sludge， it may produce gleisoil. On this unique land， many unique animals and plants are here.
Since the last ice age， Ireland has separated with the European mainland. Due to kinds of reasons， the animals and plants species here are far less than that in other areas in Europe. On one hand， Ireland is out of the natural distribution of species of the mainland that it has lower rate of biodiversity； on the other hand， in some places in Ireland， there gathered barely-seen species， like in the carboniferous limestone area in County Clare， the Arctic alpine species left from the last ice age live there. the species that do not exist in other areas live well here.
As an island， the plants group here is extremely rich. Dr. Neil Lockhart， senior biologist in Ireland National Park and Wildlife Service Organization said， "it covers almost half of the moss in Europe， but differently， the flowering plants that from Iberian Peninsula， the North Pole and North America can live harmoniously." This strange situation makes the land full of flowers all the year round， from light yellow Wicklow gorse to claret-colored fuchsia in West Cork and the hawthorn and gorse in Antrim canyons.
There are a lot of marsh creatures and aquatic creatures in Ireland and the birds here are mainly seabird and migratory waterfowls. Most of the wildlife lives in protection zones or national parks. Until now， the areas of art， heritage and Irish together with the heritage Bureau C the bureau is in charge of the protection of animals and plants C has built 5 national parks. There are 3 natural protection zones for birds， 11 big forest parks and more than 180 comfort small tree farms. In recent years， the national forests have been opened to the public but just walkers that go inside there.
Besides， the country has issued related laws to protect animals and plants on the island. The 1976 Wild Animals and Plants Protection Law alone has the regulations for protecting most of the wildlife and all wild birds there. Ireland can be said that， from environment and climate to cultural and legislation， it can be called the heaven of animals and plants and it may be the reason why some rare species extinct in other places but survived here.
It is not just the duty of government to protect environment
Agriculture was once the most important part of Ireland， but in recent years the fast growth of manufacturing and service industry has overweighed the position of agriculture. But different from other places， the development of industry here has not affected the local environment， which owes to the related national policies and regulations and the public environment protection awareness.
In fact， in 1980s and the beginning of 1990s， Ireland also faced environmental problems. It was not rich at that time； local government didn’t have the ability to supervise enterprises and there was no unified standard for environment protection. In order to solve the problem， the Irish Environment Protection Agency （EPA） was established in 1993. It was authorized by the state to directly manage national environmental problems and cannot be intervened by other departments. The 1992 and 2003 environment protection acts granted the agency rights to protect environment. From then on the duty of EPA is to protect environment and guarantee the sustainable development of society and economy.
In 1994， Ireland started the comprehensive pollution control licensing system. In 1997， it implemented the waste licensing system. In March， 2003， it collected the plastic bag add-value tax. In 2004， it carried out EU comprehensive pollution prevention and control plan. Since 2005， the environment department has put forward a clean rubbish plan with volume-based charging. Since 2009， it has collected carbon emission tax on mineral fuel like gasoline and diesel. All of the systems and institutions have strongly guaranteed the smooth development of environment protection and sustainable development in accordance with the law and under supervision.
Besides， related institutions also make efforts on this. The Irish environmental organization WEEE said， from 2005 till now， it has collected 75 million pieces of electronic wastes with the total weight of 0.25 million tons （equals to 50000 trucks）， which is 50% of the electronic products in the country. The collection of WEEE makes the wasted not be landfilled as rubbish， but enter in reasonable recycling channel. WEEE also collected 2300 tons of portable battery. From 2007 to 2014， the collection proportion has increased from 3% to 33% with a fast speed.
What’s more， citizens all have their "environmental lists"， like trying to go out by bike， classifying rubbish disposal and bringing it to recycling station to pay cleaning fees based on weight， bringing cloth bag when go to the supermarket and avoiding ready mode of electronic devices at home to save energy.
Environmental protection expert Guo Geng once said that， when worked in Ireland， when he fed the monkey in front of the cage， he was scolded by some pupils that "it is not allowed to feed animals casually". He explained a lot and went to the office to wear the hat of breeder that solved the misunderstanding. He wrote in his article that， the protection awareness of these children benefited him a lot.
All these things， though small， but are affecting the blue sky and white clouds as well as green mountains and clean waters in Ireland all the time.