Greening Our City: Discovering the biodiversity of Cork’s streams

Recently Cork Chamber, in partnership with Cork Environmental Forum (CEF), SHEP Earth Aware, Green Spaces for Health, Cork Healthy Cities and the Environmental Research Institute at UCC held an informative webinar as part of the Greening Our City series. Presenters Antóin McDermott from SWAN, Catherine Seale-Duggan of Local Authority Waters Programme, Karen Loxton of Wild Work (SECAD), and Simon Harrison from UCC discussed the current challenges and opportunities to improve the biodiversity of Cork’s rivers, lakes, and estuaries and the many ways in which Citizen Science can help communities and individuals become part of the solution by re-discovering their interest in nature and biodiversity.

The Water Framework Directive is a comprehensive and progressive piece of EU legislation that requires all Member States to protect and improve the quality of all their waters and to achieve ‘good status’ in all our waters by 2015 or, at the latest by 2027.

According to our speakers, 53% of all surface waters in Ireland are categorised as ‘good’ or ‘high’, with 47% as ‘unsatisfactory’. These categories are based on the level of pollution and biodiversity present in the waters. However, with over 73,000 km of river channels, monitoring all our waters presents logistical challenges. That is where Citizen Science is playing an important role.

Organisations supported by the Cork City Freshwater Monitoring Network, including, CEF, Local Authority Waters Programme, SECAD and UCC are engaging with communities, schools, and individuals to train them in the biomonitoring of our freshwater bodies. Through a simplistic, easy to follow, and reliable ‘Citizen Science Stream Index’ (CSSI), the presence of pollution-tolerant and pollution-intolerant taxa (bugs, slugs, and snails) is monitored, and water quality is then assessed through a traffic light system. Not only is this volunteer based work critical towards understanding the health of our waters, but it is also helping individuals to reconnect with nature, resulting in more empowered citizens with a better appreciation for biodiversity.

Cork is home to beautiful natural systems with a wide range of wildlife including otters, brown trout, young salmon, and kingfisher. Working with nature and protecting these ecosystems is an important piece of the puzzle towards building climate resilient communities, protecting human health, and generally making our waterways attractive to locals and visitors for recreational use. However, it is only when we all come together to discuss the many opportunities and challenges that we can focus on a common goal.

While our water quality, nationally and in Cork City, has been declining it is extremely encouraging to see the positive work being done to bring light to this issue. Ultimately, citizen science has a great role to play in the future of our green and blue infrastructure. As highlighted in the webinar, both bottom-up and top-down initiatives, including structured coordination at regional and national levels is needed to bring about visible results and long-term impact.