‘From landscape past to landscape future’ is the theme of the National Landscape Forum (NLF), which takes place at Mount Congreve House, just outside Waterford City, on Thursday and Friday, September 28th and 29th.
Tomorrow evening, Wednesday, September 27th, from 6:30pm to 8pm, the Waterford Gallery of Art on O’Connell Street shall host an evening ‘Celebrating Landscape & Art’.
This precedes the two-day forum at Mount Congreve House where a range of speakers shall address a range of issues, including landscape policy and management, ecology and sustainable development.
The forum is timely, coming as it does just ahead of Teagasc’s Signpost Sustainability Month, which kicks off at with an event on the Fitzgerald Farm on Portlaw’s High Road (also in County Waterford) on Tuesday next, October 3rd, (11am to 1pm).
For more about coming events, visit: Sustainability Month 2023 – Teagasc | Agriculture and Food Development Authority
Green Acre Marketing is looking forward to attending the Friday session at Mount Congreve, which features a welcome focus on agriculture and the rural landscape.
Dr Una Fitzpatrick of the National Biodiversity Centre (based at the nearby SETU West Campus in Carriganore) shall discuss the integrating the Pollinator Plan with landscape strategy. Meanwhile, Gretta McCarron of The Water Forum shall speak about a framework for integrated land and landscape management and “a catchment-based approach for water, climate and nature outcomes”.
Dr Sharon O’Brien of SETU’s Architectural Department shall address delegates about ‘Farmers and their Fields’, focusing on participatory research into “spatial, cultural and social ties/relationships between farmers and their fields in (the) rural landscape of Waterford and Tipperary”.
Catherine Keena, Teagasc’s Countryside Management Specialist, will discuss the significance of hedgerow management, along with securing livestock, biodiversity and carbon.
With a Q&A panel discussion scheduled to close the event, the forum aims to record participants’ views on “how Ireland might sustainably protect, manage and plan its landscape in the face of current and emerging challenges whilst concurrently respecting the integrity of its rich cultural/natural heritage”.
The forum follows Sustainable Development Goals Week which ran from September 18th to 22nd and will also bring Waterford’s designated ‘Month of Landscape’ to a close.
For further details, visit: National Landscape Forum 2023 | Irish Landscape Institute
