Action begins for biodiversity in Ballymoney
Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle councils are delighted to be promoting and actioning further environmental projects in their council areas with the appointment of Biodiversity Officer Rachel Bain. Rachel will be working with each of the four councils.
The appointment marks the beginning of a process of finding out what wildlife exists in these Boroughs, and making plans to involve as many people as possible in protecting it in the future.
What is BIODIVERSITY all about?
Biodiversity is essentially the total variety of all living things, from a small insect to the largest tree and people too. You can find biodiversity almost everywhere - in your garden, road verges, farmland, woodlands, and the seashore. However, there is a large concern for the decline in biodiversity all around the world and it is important to try to address this loss at a local level.
As part of this project we hope to find out what biodiversity is out there, what is especially important to the people of the borough, and to work with them to help look after it long into the future!
This joint project with Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle councils is initially part funded for two years by Northern Ireland Environment Agency. It will begin by pulling together a list, or audit, of all the species and habitats that occur in the council areas and trying to assess their importance.
The information gathered for the audit will be used as a starting point to write the Local Biodiversity Action Plan, which will have recommendations for actions to help conserve and enhance the biodiversity of the Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle areas for the future, and look at opportunities to involve everyone in the local area.
These opportunities could range from wildlife gardening, creating a wildflower meadow, to projects like helping to identify sites of local wildlife value for possible designation as Local Nature Reserves. Everybody can get involved and help. All these opportunities will be publicised on the biodiversity section of the Ballymoney Borough Council website and in the local papers.
Anyone interested in the biodiversity of the Ballymoney Borough Council area should contact:
Rachel Bain
Biodiversity Officer
Email: rachel.bain@ballymoney.gov.uk
Telephone: 028 7034 7272
