Only One Ireland: Protecting and enhancing Dublin City's natural environment

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Protecting and enhancing Dublin City's natural environment

The role of the Dublin City Heritage Office is to "protect and enhance the status and perception of Dublin City’s natural and man made heritage". This is being done through the implementation of the Dublin City Heritage Plan 2002-2006 (PDF, 28 pages, 4 MB).

As the natural environment is included in the Heritage Office's remit they have produced some associated leaflets:

Conserving Bats Leaflet (PDF, 4 pages, 412 KB)
Outlines the importance of bats, the threats that they face and methods of conservation
Hedgerows Leaflet (PDF, 4 pages, 1.6 MB)
Outlines the value of hedgerows, the threats that they face and how they can be properly maintained
Natural Heritage Surveys (PDF, 64 pages, 3 MB)
A register of all known studies of the natural environment in the city area, both published and unpublished.

The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.