An Taisce is Getting Ready to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Blue Flag

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:30:17 +0100

An Taisce is getting ready to celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of Blue Flag

The 25th anniversary celebrations for Blue Flag will be taking place in Ireland on June 7th 2012. Ireland’s Blue Flag beaches have something to offer everyone, with; excellent water quality; lifeguarded swimming areas; busy promenades; world renowned surfing beaches; hidden bays and long sandy shores - there really is something for everyone. The Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognised eco-labels. The 84 Irish beaches and 2 marinas that achieved this accolade in 2011 met a specific set of criteria related to water quality, information provision, environmental education and beach management. As a pre-requisite, the bathing water at Blue Flag beaches must meet the highest standards of bathing water quality. The Blue Flag programme is operated by An Taisce and is funded in Ireland by the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government.

www.blueflag.org

www.blueflagireland.org

www.facebook.com/BlueFlagIreland

www.twitter.com/#!/BlueFlagIreland

Greening Communities

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:27:10 +0100

The Irish Greening Communities Programme is a joint initiative of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the EPA and An Taisce – the National Trust for Ireland to encourage the growth of greening communities in Ireland. The programme arose out of the recognition that there are an abundance of initiatives already taking place in Ireland, which facilitate and recognise increasing levels of sustainable environmental behaviour and activity (e.g. TidyTowns, National Spring Clean, Greenbusiness.ie, Green-Schools, Transitions Towns and Power of One).

The Irish Greening Communities Programme aims to enhance coordination and collaboration between the public, private, non-governmental and voluntary sector organisations in the area of sustainable development in Ireland. The programme provides support and help to empower individuals, communities, businesses and institutions to adopt more environmentally sustainable habits and behaviours, in the most economically efficient manner possible. This entails exploring the potential for collaboration to achieve ‘synergies’ and ‘tipping points’ which would be unlikely to be achieved by separate initiatives working on their own.

Communication with the wider network (national and international) is being facilitated through the use of the Ask About Ireland website (www.greencommunities.ie) and the use of social media networks. The aim to engage with programme operators, local authority administrates (through the environmental awareness officers, heritage and community development officers) and community champions to advance the development of a robust and interactive network.

Four demonstration projects were undertaken in 2011, looking at the effectiveness of the greening of different community types: Communal Garden Community; Rural Community; Business Community and Event Community. These communities have been chosen to participate in the programme as they have shown previous success in greening their community and can be used to understand the process. We are now calling for nominations for a further six “Greening Communities” for 2012.

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An Taisce is Getting Ready to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Blue Flag

Greening Communities