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Life

02nd May 2019

Wicklow County Council declares climate and biodiversity emergency

Carl Kinsella

Climate emergency

Wicklow County Council is making a stand.

Wicklow County Council has taken an unprecedented step by declaring a state of climate and biodiversity emergency.

The decision follows pressure from the school strike movement, founded by Greta Thunberg.

Councillor Steven Matthews, a representative of the Green Party, wrote “Wicklow County Council meeting today we launched our draft Climate Adaptation Strategy and cllrs voted to declare a Climate & Biodiversity emergency for #Wicklow. Make your number 1 issue for the upcoming elections and make your elected reps act on this.”

According to Green News, the motion contains a directive that the council “publish a climate action plan, declare a county-wide biodiversity emergency, and publish an updated biodiversity action plan.”

It will also see the council join the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, to which it will report its progress.

The decision to declare a climate emergency comes at the same time as similar emergencies have been announced by the devolved governments of Wales and Scotland. On Wednesday night, the United Kingdom parliament declared a national emergency, after a vote called by Jeremy Corbyn.

Wicklow is nicknamed ‘the Garden County’ and is home to some of Ireland’s best-known sites of natural beauty: including Glendalough, Powerscourt and Lough Tay.