Ireland (Westport, County Mayo)
Food Security & Public Land Use in Rural Towns

The Irish Learning Venture in Westport will involve community members and school students in the process of cultivating mini-forests and edible landscapes to address issues of food security, biodiversity, and land use in the region.

BACKGROUND

In the process of forming the Learning Venture, local community collaborators reflected on the experience of empty supermarket shelves during the storm known as ‘the Beast from the East’ in 2018. This experience highlighted the vulnerability of food supply in rural Ireland.

The community is acutely aware of their susceptibility to supply chain disruption as extreme weather becomes more and more frequent due to climate change.

Motivated by this experience, the Learning Venture plans to focus activities around a planting project which will invite the wider community to get involved in creating mini food forests in various locations around the town.

MISSION AND VISION

We hope that by working together across sectors and age ranges, the Westport Learning Venture will be celebrated for embodying principles of self-reliance, sustainability, and community wellbeing.

This project will focus on food security but also contributes to a more connected, resilient, and environmentally conscious community and delivers on the overarching vision of the community organisations and educational institutions involved – that is, to create a great quality of life for all in the area.

It is hoped that the actions of the Westport Learning Venture will serve as an example for other schools and communities aiming to undertake climate action projects in small towns in Ireland.

Overview

Co-creating Evidence-Based Recommendations for Cross-Sectoral Partnerships and Whole-School Approaches to Education for Sustainable Development.

The Irish Learning Venture is also involved in research about education for sustainability and climate action in schools. This involves school students, teachers, management and supporting staff to address an evidence gap in whole-school projects.

BACKGROUND

There is a critical gap between policies on education for sustainable development, multi-stakeholder engagement and evidence or guidance on implementing education for sustainable development.

Ar Scáth a Chéile: Co-creating Evidence-Based Recommendations for Cross-Sectoral Partnerships and Whole-School Approaches to Education for Sustainable Development is a partnership between Trinity College Dublin Science and Society Research Group and the Irish Sustainability Schools Network The project will examine how partnerships and whole-school approaches influence students’ sustainability competences and provide an evidence based recommendations for policy makers.

MISSION AND VISION

This collaboration will provide a case study of an Environmental Leadership Programme at Ardscoil na Mara, a school in Tramore, Co. Waterford. This case study along with advisory board and a dedicated summit will gather stakeholders in formal and non-formal education to co-create guidelines and recommendations for future whole-school approaches to ESD.

We hope that by working together with Ardscoil Na Mara students, teachers and management, the Irish Sustainability Schools Network and policy makers, this case study and recommendations provided will provide valuable evidence of sustainability education in action. We hope this may also show how other schools can implement similar programmes to create a new generation of environmental leaders.