County Monaghan's Action Plan for Wetlands has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.

The project, which represents the first wetlands action plan for any county in Ireland, will compete for the Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Award.

The wetlands action plan is defining climate action and biodiversity restoration strategies and identifying sites where landowner and community buy in can be achieved. It is the first use of the International Ramsar Convention RAWES method, which has allowed the team to capture and score the ecosystem services for the wetlands, creating an easy to understand communication tool for non-scientists and funders.

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A Community Wetlands Network for climate, nature and people to support local interest in conserving wetlands was launched during Heritage Week to support the initiative.

Commenting on the recognition, Shirley Clerkin, Heritage Officer with Monaghan County Council said: "The Monaghan Wetlands Action Plan is shortlisted in the Supporting Sustainable Communities category, very appropriately, as the initiative is about building bridges between wetlands and people. We are aiming to keep wetlands healthy and to inspire communities and landowners to value them as part of a sustainable society. Many thanks to Chambers Ireland ELG awards for their encouragement with this initiative."

The Action Plan for Wetlands in County Monaghan is a joint project initiative funded by Monaghan County Council, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage through the National Biodiversity Action Plan. 

Monaghan County Council is working with Wetland Surveys Ireland to deliver the work.