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Communities caring for water: Saturday 28 November

This year’s Irish Rivers Trust and Catchment Community Groups Seminar: Communities Caring for Water is going online and takes place on Saturday 28 November from 9:00 to 13:00.

Update: this event can now be watched online at https://crowdcomms.com/communitiescfw – if you have any queries reagridng this event please contact the Local Authority Waters Programme – email info@lawaters.ie

It will provide important updates, guidance, and inspiration for those working to protect and conserve rivers on the island of Ireland. This event is being un by the LA Waters Programme and The Rivers Trust.

Topics include:

Funding for smaller groups and trusts
Citizen science
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Communications: cutting through the noise of COVID-19.

Book your free place here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/communities-caring-for-water-tickets-128271839525

Agenda

Updates from on the ground
09.00 – Welcome	Mark Horton, The Rivers Trust Sean Keating, LAWPRO
09.10 – Updates from local trusts and catchment community groups – Quickfire presentations	Liz Gabbett, Maigue Rivers Trust/Resilience Project Pat Boyd, Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Tommy Earley, Farming for NatureAmbassador Jason Nash, Bandon Rivers Trust
Tools for practitioners
09.30 – Communications: Cutting through the noise of COVID Presentations + Q&A	Jayne Mann, The Rivers Trust Gretta McCarron, An Fóram Uisce / The Water Forum
10.00 – Citizen Science Presentation, Panel Discussion + Q&A	Fran Igoe, LAWPRO Trish Murphy, Inishowen Rivers Trust
10.30 – Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Presentations + Q&A	Bernie Bradley, Social inclusion Officer, Monaghan County Council Geraldine McTavish, GAA rep Packie Kelly, Teach na Daoine Family Resource Centre Zeinab El Mustafa, Cultural Champion
*11:00 -11:15: Break*
11.15 – Building for the Future Presentations	Sheevaun Thompson, LAWPRO – Funding Opportunities Mark Lloyd: The Rivers Trust strategy – island of Ireland development Jimmy McVeigh, LAWPRO – How we are supporting communities Olive Carey. Shannon Wetlands Project Urban Wetlands: Building Partnerships for Nature and People Philip James & Micheal O’Cinneide:Not giving up on LIFE: Developing a public data sharing platform for Ireland’s freshwater environment
12.15 – Launch of Community Water Development Fund Presentation	Sheevaun Thompson, LAWPRO
12.20 – Open Q&A	Moderator: Mark Horton, The Rivers Trust
12:55 – Closing Remarks	Bernie O’Flaherty, LAWPRO

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.