Networks and cities' news

Get to know Ireland’s first Natural Play Area!

Within the 3rd Core Network Meeting, the BiodiverCity partnership tested Limerick’s first Natural Play Area, which opened in 2022 at the Castletroy Urban Greenway, within the Go Green Routes Horizon 2020 project - the easy-to-adapt tool inspired all network partners.

From a comprehensive blue and green infrastructure strategy to action plans supporting urban biodiversity specifically

BiodiverCity case study inspired by Limerick (Ireland)

Limerick, the Green Leaf City 

Preparing for the 2020 Green Leaf Award (the city’s commitment to better environmental outcomes was awarded by the competition aimed at cities and towns across Europe, with populations between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants) inspired Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) to make a Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy (GBI, 2023). It includes a range of actions to work with communities to contribute towards opportunities to conserve and enhance biodiversity and inform policy. This comprehensive GBI strategy was analysed in detail by the BiodiverCity partnership in June 2024, and they have found that a comprehensive strategy on green and blue infrastructure is key, simply because it sets the scene for several new policies targeting green infrastructure (e.g. on trees) and biodiversity. Let’s see how Limerick works in this field!  

First intergenerational BiodiverCity festival

The first intergenerational BiodiverCity festival in Poljcane was organised on 6 th June 2024 together with the local elderly association, kindergarten and primary school. The location of the festival was carefully selected; thus, it was carried out under the hayrack near the Dravinja River.

Meet Sinead Mc Donnell, one of Ireland's Local Authority Biodiversity Officers!

Urban biodiversity as a category refers to the variety of living organisms as well as the multiplicity of habitats in and around dense human settlements. The conservation work to mitigate biodiversity loss is more or less the same in the city and outside of urban areas, however, some sub-themes such as awareness-raising, mitigating the heat-island effects and other urban disaster risks, green infrastructure and the fight against invasive species make the urban aspects important within biodiversity conservation. The most important thing is that cities offer unique opportunities for learning and education about a resilient and sustainable future and have a large potential to boost innovations and governance tools.

International Biodiversity Day Celebrated in Sarajevo: Interactive Lecture, Planting, and Intergenerational Gathering

Sarajevo, May 22, 2024 – As part of the Urbact program and the "BiodiverCity" project, sponsored by the European Union, the City of Sarajevo organized the celebration of International Biodiversity Day. The event took place at the School for Vocational Education and Training, Azize Šaćirbegović 80, and gathered a large number of participants, including the ULG coordinator, ULG members, employees of the Sarajevo City Sustainable Development Service, the Center for Healthy Aging, school students, and citizens.

The bird-watching station

The bird-watching station with an experiential platform is an educational and pedagogical structure along the Dravinja Learning Path, which is part of the Municipality of Poljčane's vision towards biodiversity development (BiodiverCity). The bird-watching station is a charming outdoor classroom with partially obscured views of the surrounding nature. In the series of wooden slats, designed to resemble riverbank reeds, there are interactive didactic tools for learning through play. On the platform, elevated above the Dravinja floodplain, there are thematic carousels about animals and plants along the river, which rhythmically continue into the bird-watching station and culminate in an imaginary riverbed. Learning through play during a pleasant walk in nature attracts both the young and the young at heart to explore and observe the world around them.