Exploring Biodiversity in the Mulkear Catchment as part of the Lower Shannon Special Area of Conservation

To mark the final months of 2010 as the United Nation’s ‘International Year of Biodiversity’, MulkearLIFE / Inland Fisheries Ireland is hosting a training workshop entitled ‘Exploring Biodiversity in the Mulkear Catchment as part of the Lower Shannon Special Area of Conservation’.

Biodiversity and ecosystems services are the basis of all human existence and are of vital importance to our overall wellbeing. However, within this 21st Century global village many of us have become so far removed from our natural surroundings that we have forgotten how much we rely on and are inter-dependent upon the wider biodiversity that surrounds us. As a direct result the very biodiversity that sustains and enriches our daily lives is not understood. Ecosystems are being damaged and habitats are being lost or are under threat due to human activity. MulkearLIFE’s five year work programme is designed to restore habitats on the Lower Shannon SAC (Mulkear River Catchment) for Sea Lamprey, Atlantic Salmon and the European Otter.

The work will also have far wider benefits in terms of biodiversity. This workshop will explore the extent of this biodiversity in the Mulkear catchment and the related ecosystem services providers. The training element of the workshop is designed to be interactive and help all participants (including the presenters) to gain a better understanding of the value of the biodiversity that surrounds. It will also review the opportunities that exist to get involved in local conservations work and the work of the MulkearLIFE’s ‘Conservation Volunteer Corps’.

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