Limerick City
Biodiversity Project
‘Enhancing communities and
linking city biodiversity’
This project
involved planting wildflower meadows of high biodiversity values in the
Regeneration and Rapid designated areas of Limerick City to establish a linked
up city-wide biodiversity network.
Urban planted
areas are often prone to vandalism with great expense to the local authorities.
So from the very beginning the project was run in partnership with community centres
with the aim of engaging the whole community in active participation in the
design, seeding and management of
biodiversity areas. Community involvement
and ownership helped create a sense of pride of place, collective achievement
and community well-being.
A hive of Irish
honey bees Apis melifera meliferia
was brought into the city and centrally located to easily pollinate all newly planted
biodiversity areas. In this way the bee became the symbol of social connection
between all project parts across the city. The value of honey bees as natures
great pollinators was emphasized as was the importance of creating biodiversity
areas to help them thrive. This gave the project a sense of purpose especially
among the many primary and secondary schools that participated in the planting.
Harvesting Limerick City honey is a
tangible benefit to supporting bees and highlights the symbotic relationship neccessary
between nature and people to build more resilient communities.
Wet weather and
low sunshine hours delayed budburst throughout the summer especially among sun
loving plants like the ox eye daisy, poppy and corn flower. However a spell of
warm weather in September brough a spurt in growth and a welcome splash of
vibrant colour. Plants continued to bloom throughout September, October and
into November.
Long Term benefits
A community
planting project can focus on both ecologically and commercially productive
plants. Fruiting and flowering plants that benefit nature and enhance the look
of an area can also be partially harvested to serve community led local enterprises and trade. As
well as the four wild flower meadows planted in 2012, a commercial orchard and
a heritage orchard are being planted with the aim of producing Limerick City
apple juice. Each apple tree will be adopted by a community member.
This project
shows how people and nature can coexist and be mutually beneficial. Empowering
community to plant biodiversity areas locally may have national significance in
helping our honey bee thrive.
This project was
developed by Diarmuid Neilan and
supported by the Limerick Regeneration Agency, Limerick City Council and Paul
Partnership.