A new €25 million project to protect and restore the biodiversity of Ireland’s marine ecosystems will be unveiled by Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan on Monday. (Oct 7)
The Marine Protected Areas LIFE project is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, University College Dublin, University College Cork and University of Galway.
The partners will research and develop the project which has several key actions, according to the Department of Housing.
It will involve working with communities, environmental organisations and industry to plan and develop Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) with a balance between ecological protection and socio-economic development.
The project will have a focus on open and transparent sharing of data, and will involve promotion of “ocean literacy” to enable better understanding of the ocean and sustainability.
An update on the progress of the MPA legislation will be given by the junior minister at the event in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, on Monday morning (Oct 7).
He is expected to emphasise that one third of the State’s target for MPAs has already been reached.