Congratulations to CELT (Centre for Environmental Living and Training) on reaching the final of the Arthur Guinness Projects and Ashoka Change Makers competition Makers of More – Your Idea, Your Community, Your Action. This initiative seeks to find people whose innovative ideas and inspirational work go beyond the ordinary to help unlock their community’s potential. One Grand Prize of €30,000 will be awarded to one overall winner and two additional runner-up prizes of €10,000 will also be awarded.
CELT’s proposal is aimed at regenerating rural Ireland through Eco-tourism and the creation of a Centre of Excellence in Woodland Management, Agroforestry and Traditional Skills. The centre will be based in an eco-village setting and sheltered workshop areas will feature a range of traditional and ecological skills taught by professional tutors. Other training available at the Centre of Excellence will focus on creation of different woodland and agroforestry systems as replicable models . These will include traditional coppice-regime woodland, silvo-pasture and silvo-arable systems. Training will be aimed at landowners, farmers, gardeners and students. CELT envision this Centre for Excellence becoming a tourism attraction with the possibility of linking to other eco projects. In time, thousands of people could be employed in their own localities creating new woodlands, agroforestry projects and skills training centres nationwide. To find out more about the project, and how you can help CELT succeed, please follow this link: http://www.changemakers.com/project/celt-centre-environmental-living-training?enid=302585
Congratulations also to the Irish Wildlife Trust who reached the semi-final with their wonderful ‘Make it Wild’ proposal. Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and wildlife. The Irish Wildlife Trust’s ‘Make it Wild’ programme inspires people to help biodiversity and wildlife by replacing some of this lost habitat on their own properties and in their local communities. Find out more about the programme here: http://www.changemakers.com/project/irish-wildlife-trust?enid=305290
