NWRM at Ireland’s first National Biodiversity Conference
Such was the appetite, that the first National Biodiversity Conference to be held in Ireland was fully booked out months in advance.
In a session chaired by Dr Collier (TCD), four experts were asked to consider How can we use nature-based solutions in river catchments? Particularly when we consider the need to Plan for the Future.
How can we use nature to help us alleviate floods, improve river health and benefit biodiversity? What does ‘ecological engineering’ mean for a river and in what circumstances is it the appropriate approach? What kind of local actions are communities undertaking? And are nature-based solutions necessarily solutions for nature?
There were 4 speakers:
- Alan Sullivan from Rivus
- Sheevaun Thompson from LAWPRO
- Nathy Gilligan from OPW
- and Mary Bourke from TCD
Dr Bourke was invited to speak about the potential for National Water Retention Measures in Ireland. Below is the link to her 10 minute talk.
Conference Charter ‘Our Seeds for Nature’
The Charter was agreed at a meeting chaired by Minister Josepha Madigan in Dublin Castle and attended by Minister Bruton, Minister Doyle and other senior leaders from 14 Government Departments, state agencies, private sector and non-governmental organisations.
The Charter comprises a suite of commitments for nature and biodiversity that go beyond the respective organisations’ current work programmes to support, scale up and fast track the implementation of the National Biodiversity Action Plan.
We were delighted to see two of our new research projects highlighted in the Charter in collaboration with the Office of Public Works (OPW):
#6: The OPW will
*Partner with the EPA on a major new research project – SloWaters – which is a strategic assessment of natural water retention measures.
*Partner directly with Trinity College Dublin on ecosystem services of Ireland’s forests for flood protection.
Finally if you have 40 minutes to be inspired by our President you can watch him in action here at the conference.
