ReFarm Ireland
John Paul Construction has signed up as a funder of ReFarm Ireland, a nationwide biodiversity project that aims to improve biodiversity across the country in a meaningful, measurable, and scalable manner.
Biodiversity is intrinsically linked to the overall sustainability journey of this country and indeed on a worldwide level. Under incoming EU Sustainability Reporting Directives all large organisations will be reporting on biodiversity actions in the same way as we will be reporting on emissions, climate change, waste, water and other social and governance aspects of sustainability.
With over two thirds of the landmass of Ireland in farmland, farmers are going to be key to achieving biodiversity targets and this is why a project like this is so important. The scheme will pay farmers to improve biodiversity on their farms, where payments will be directly linked to the level of improvement. The scheme was set up by Anke Heydenreich, an impact investor and Dr. Brendan Dunford from Burrenbeo Trust who has already done this very successfully over many years as part of a government funded scheme in the Burren. However, this five year pilot project by ReFarm is a collaboration between funders, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and over one hundred farmers from across the country, where TCD’s research team will establish a long term funding structure that will support biodiversity in a measurable and reportable way.
The ReFarm project was launched in Trinity College this week, where Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, noted that;
“Participating farmers can have confidence in the quality of the advice from Burrenbeo, and participating businesses will know that the nature-positive outcomes they’re reporting under new EU requirements are underpinned by a first class research institution in Trinity College Dublin.”
We are really excited to be involved in the development of this project that will have a lasting impact on sustainability in this country and will also assist us in meeting our targets in the long term.
Businesses to fund wildlife ponds, hedgerows and woodlands as part of ReFarm project
