Derry City and Strabane District Council is leading the project to make people more aware of the environment around them while also building positive relations across all sides of the community. They will form a partnership with Donegal County Council and community groups in Strabane and Lifford to deliver the innovative programme.
The Strabane and Lifford Environmental Project is funded by the European Union's PEACE IV Programme, which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), and will run until December 2020, with programmes to be delivered over six months and opportunities for 110 participants in the area to take part. The various programmes include a Practical Action Group, which will involve work days focused on improving the environment, the Environmental Explorers, which is designed to help people realise how much the local environment has to offer, and Learning in the Landscape, which will involve structured courses that bring all sides of the community together to learn more about their area.
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Commenting on the new project, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Michaela Boyle said: "This is a really exciting project and one that I would encourage everyone to consider getting involved in.
"As a Council we are strongly focused on both the protection of our environment as well as the continuous positive strengthening of relations between all sides of our communities.
"The future of our planet is something rife in world news at the minute, and this Strabane and Lifford Environmental Project allows us to play our part in educating ourselves about what we have and how, together, we can protect it.
"I am looking forward to seeing the work that takes place as the year progresses."
The Council's Environmental Officer Julie Finlay, who is managing the project, explained its purpose is to increase environmental awareness and provide environmental education for groups and communities, whilst establishing sustainable relationships amongst those communities through peace and reconciliation.
"We will be meeting with members of the public, private and voluntary sectors and hosting a number of taster events in February and March that will explain more detail about the exciting events ahead," she added.
"As an environmental programme, this project will leave a legacy of specific skills in the local area, and a framework for the strategic management of the environment. It will also leave a legacy of improved relationships between different communities which will have economic as well as social impacts, so we’re looking forward to getting started."
(CM/MH)
