Ireland has won an EU award for best practice in communicating environmental issues. 'Notice Nature', the Department of the Environment's biodiversity awareness campaign, was voted the winner by environmental communications specialists from the 27 EU member states. The winner was announced at a ceremony in the Hague on Friday evening, 19 October. The award was presented by the Dutch Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Jacqueline Cramer, to officials from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

John Gormley TD, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government welcomed the news today, saying: "It is a great honour for Ireland to be recognised in this way. The issue of biodiversity and the importance of protecting it is a complex subject to communicate. The approach we have taken in this campaign and the emphasis we have placed on stakeholder engagement has been well received by our EU colleagues.

-- Advertisement --

"This award is a tribute to all those involved in the campaign, including environmental and community groups, local authorities, the construction, tourism, agriculture and business sectors, and members of the public who have engaged with us in Notice Nature."

Notice Nature is a public awareness and stakeholder engagement campaign which aims to increase understanding in Ireland of the value of biodiversity to human well-being and the importance of protecting it. The campaign was commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and is being managed by RPS consulting and Mary Murphy and associates public relations consultants.

Initiatives taken under the Notice Nature Campaign have included the development of good practice guidelines for the tourism, construction and business sectors, the organization of Ireland’s first biodiversity week in May, seminars and conferences around the country, photographic competition in association with TV3 and the inclusion of a new biodiversity prize in the Tidy Towns competition. The campaign’s website is: www.noticenature.ie.

The Best Practice Awards are organised by The Green Spider Network (GSN), which is an active network of communication and information officers from environment ministries and national environmental agencies in Europe. The network was established in 1995 and is supported by DG Environment of the European Commission.

(GK/JM)