Environment Feature

Community Contribution to Tackling Climate Change

As part of the National Tidy Towns competition, Clonmel has been awarded the overall Pollinator Award for 2018.

The Tidy Towns awards ceremony was hosted by the Helix on Monday, with a record number of entries from towns and villages throughout the country. This year the National TidyTowns competition considered 883 entries for Ireland’s tidiest town, and 65 entries from 22 counties for the Pollinator Award.

The Pollinator Award recognises a town’s work to assist and encourage pollination by insects in their locality. The All Ireland Pollinator Plan was launched in 2015 and aimed to create awareness of pollinators, and establish pollinator-friendly habitats across the country. Actions communities can take to establish these environments include planting a native hedgerow, managing and restoring semi-natural habitats and their native plants, and altering the frequency of mowing to allow for wildflowers to bloom.

Clonmel took the top price this year and were said to have: ‘adopted a whole-town approach; mapping the town and pinpointing areas that could act as refuges for pollinating insects, to provide food and shelter.’ The Clonmel Tidy Towns Committee worked closely with Clonmel Borough District Council, identifying and protecting their current native flowering hedgerows, preserving pollinator-friendly area, and distributing the Pollinator Plan’s ‘Business guidelines’ to local businesses.

These actions are key to the implementation of the National Biodiversity Plan 2017-2022 and policies pertinent to Climate Change. In supporting pollinating insects and their ecosystem, we can achieve objectives of environmental policies in a practical manner. The cooperation is also great example of how local authorities working together, with communities, can make a big impact.

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