merrion street

Minister Josepha Madigan today announced a funding stream for local authority projects that promote actions contained in the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2017-2021.

The Plan, Ireland’s third, was launched in October 2017, capturing the objectives, targets and actions for biodiversity that will be undertaken by a wide range of government, civil society and private sectors towards attaining Ireland’s ‘Vision for Biodiversity - namely that that in the future

biodiversity and ecosystems in Ireland are conserved and restored, delivering benefits essential for all sectors of society and that Ireland contributes to efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems in the EU and globally.

Stakeholder participation is crucial to achieving targets set out in the Plan, and local authorities around the country are ideally placed to engage with community groups and volunteers who may not have an opportunity to engage directly with the implementation of the Plan on a national level.

Projects for consideration might include: the enhancement of biodiversity at county level; biodiversity / heritage officer led participatory workshops; development of media products or multi-media projects, or information and training sessions etc.

Any activity proposed for funding by the local authority must contribute towards achieving the objectives of the NBAP.

This new funding stream also builds into the implementation process an important channel of communication, through biodiversity officers and heritage officers, between the needs, abilities and resources of local communities and the overarching objectives of Ireland’s national biodiversity plan.

The rollout of this scheme in 2018 will lay the groundwork for continued vital engagement at local level with the implementation of our National Biodiversity Plan over the next 5 years.