IWT NEWS
A C T I V I T Y U P D A T E By Kieran Flood, IWT Coordinator
IWT & Galway Community College – Climate & Biodiversity Research Project
The Galway Community College Group on a field trip with Spanish project partners
This year the IWT is working with Galway Community College (GCC) as part of an Erasmus+ project on Climate Change Studies and Research in the European Union. This winter IWT Junior members will be receiving an insert with their magazine produced by the class at GCC. The magazine insert is a list of Irish endangered species being studied by students at the college. This project is a research collaboration between three schools from three different countries working with national wildlife NGOs to research and compile information about locally endangered species. As well as the IWT collaboration these include Prva Susacka Hrvatska Gimnazija in Rijeka, Croatia which will work with EKO wildlife and Felix Muriel in Spain who will work with Sociedade Galega De Historia Natural. Fifteen students from each school will research and compile information on designed templates for the endangered species including: classification, natural history, abundance, causes of decline and possible corrective actions. Students will also take part in field studies where possible to fully understand some of the pressures facing these species. These records will be published and disseminated as widely as possible through local print and social media as well multiplier events held at city hall in Galway once a year. Some audio-visual elements of the project will be filmed and we have a commitment from our national broadcaster to air some of these on young people TV programs. Where possible students will implement recommended corrective actions by working with our local council, politicians, influencers and voluntary groups. Erasmus Coordinator at GCC Tom Flanagan who will be overseeing the project says “this project comes at a time when the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest report states the outlook for Ireland’s environment is not optimistic unless we accelerate the implementation of solutions across all sectors and society. Climate and biodiversity are two of the key challenges we need to address. Projects like this are much needed to raise awareness to help try and halt the continuous degradation of the natural environment”. For more information visit www.galwaycc.ie/page/Erasmus-Project To download the a copy Species Report visit our website here https://iwt.ie/what-we-do/education/galway-erasmus 10
IWT Monaghan Branch County Monaghan is in the process of setting up a new local branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust. The Facebook page is live and the mycelium is slowly spreading - we plan to become an official fruiting body with our launch early in 2022. In the meantime, we will be winding down 2021 and enjoying "the winking glitter of (many) a frosty dawn" [Patrick Kavanagh] in the drumlin county. We are really excited to be joining the IWT family and look forward to being an active member of the national network. The branch can be contacted on Email: monaghanbranch@ iwt.ie / Facebook: www. facebook.com/iwtmonaghan/"
Irish Wildlife Winter '21
010_IWT_Winter2021_Activity Update_FINAL.indd 10
26/11/2021 12:13
