Geography (Reports)

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  • Publication
    Envisioning security for a more-than-human world
    (United Nations Development Programme, 2024-01-03) Morrissey, John
    This paper considers a key securitization challenge that the world faces in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a challenge that centres on discursively envisioning the kind of security required in tackling a wider set of human-environmental crises unfolding on the planet. In seeking to reimagine, reframe and re-resource strategies of security, the paper conceptualizes a conjoined sense of human-environmental security, which extends the human security concept to address more holistically the overlapping precarities of our human and non-human worlds. The paper sets out the task of moving beyond a concern for 'human precarity' to a concern for a broader sense of 'planetary precarity', which in turn prompts the need to strategize for a 'more-than-human' sense of security for the future of the planet.
  • Publication
    Planning for change: Coastal management and climate adaptation in Derrynane, Co. Kerry
    (OPW Ireland, 2023) Farrell, Eugene J.; Taylor, Brandon; O'Neill, Chris; Hyland, Vincent
    This report details the results of a community participatory workshop in Derrynane, Co. Kerry during April 2022. The workshop assessed the perception of the participants to coastal management practices in their area and the potential impacts of climate change. A survey of the participants was designed to gauge their connection to the Derrynane coast and their perception of multiple facets of the coast including amenities available for visitors; human impacts on the coastal areas; habitats and the community; biodiversity and nature conservation site designations; and identifying future coastal management actions that could benefit the community. The report also identifies obstacles experienced by participants to deliver community-led coastal management actions. Most respondents had a very strong appreciation of the natural beauty and uniqueness of the area and are invested in maintaining the area for themselves and future generations. The results showed that the community is very concerned about the impacts of high visitor numbers and climate change. In particular, degradation of the dune habitats from trampling by visitors, dune erosion from storms and changes in the river channel position were identified as major concerns. Many respondents believe that some of the pressures on the area can be mitigated by the provision of amenities linked to waste, drinking water (at the Blue Flag Beach), parking and access controls, along with signage to highlight a code of conduct and build awareness of the fragile, unique nature of the dunes and visitor impacts. Respondents also highlighted a need for increased on-site staff managing the number of visitors and monitoring antisocial behaviour and activities such as unauthorized camping, motorhomes or mistreatment of the dunes – especially in the late evening and night. Many workshop participants are eager to participate and contribute to community-led actions focused on building the long term resilience of the Derrynane coast. To do this they would require greater guidance, knowledge and establishment of formal lines of communication to effectively work with the OPW in its capacity as the public body responsible for the conservation and management of Derrynane National Historic Park.
  • Publication
    Building coastal and marine resilience in Ireland
    (Environmental Protection Agency, 2022) Farrell, Eugene J.; Smith, Glen; O'Hagan, Anne Marie; Le Tissier, Martin; Marine Institute; MaREI: the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine
    [No abstract available]
  • Publication
    New threats to human security in the Anthropocene: Demanding greater solidarity
    (United Nations Development Programme, 2022) Morrissey, John (Contributing Author); Morrissey, John
    We are faced with a development paradox. Even though people are on average living longer, healthier and wealthier lives, these advances have not succeeded in increasing people¿s sense of security. This holds true for countries all around the world and was taking hold even before the uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has increased this uncertainty. It has imperiled every dimension of our wellbeing and amplified a sense of fear across the globe. This, in tandem with rising geopolitical tensions, growing inequalities, democratic backsliding and devastating climate change-related weather events, threatens to reverse decades of development gains, throw progress on the Sustainable Development Goals even further off track, and delay the urgent need for a greener, more inclusive and just transition. Against this backdrop, I welcome the Special Report on New threats to human security in the Anthropocene: Demanding greater solidarity, produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report explains this paradox, highlighting the strong association between declining levels of trust and increased feelings of insecurity. It suggests that during the Anthropocene¿a term proposed to describe the era in which humans have become central drivers of planetary change, radically altering the earth¿s biosphere¿people have good reason to feel insecure. Multiple threats from COVID-19, digital technology, climate change, and biodiversity loss, have become more prominent or taken new forms in recent years. In short, humankind is making the world an increasingly insecure and precarious place. The report links these new threats with the disconnect between people and planet, arguing that they¿like the Anthropocene itself¿are deeply entwined with increasing planetary pressure. The contribution of this report is to update the concept of human security to reflect this new reality. This implies moving beyond considering the security of individuals and communities, to also consider the interdependence among people, and between people and planet, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In doing so, the report offers a way forward to tackle today¿s interconnected threats. First, by pursuing human security strategies that affirm the importance of solidarity, since we are all vulnerable to the unprecedented process of planetary change we are experiencing during the Anthropocene. And second, by treating people not as helpless patients, but agents of change and action capable of shaping their own futures and course correcting. The findings in the report echo some of the key themes in my report on Our Common Agenda, including the importance of investing in prevention and resilience, the protection of our planet, and rebuilding equity and trust at a global scale through solidarity and a renewed social contract. The United Nations offers a natural platform to advance these core objectives with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders. This report offers valuable insights and analyses, and I commend it to a wide global audience as we strive to advance Our Common Agenda and to use the concept of human security as a tool to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
  • Publication
    Quality Irish regional products and services: their promotion and marketing
    (Social Sciences Research Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway and Teagasc Agricultural and Food Development Authority, 2004) Cawley, Mary
    As part of an ongoing response to the 1992 reform of the CAP and the 1993 GATT agreement, the European Commission (EC) provided support for research on the development of new markets, products and processes for agricultural and related resources in the lagging regions of the Union. In the late 1990s, the research reported here was funded to explore Regional Images and the Promotion of Quality Products and Services in the Lagging Regions of the European Union (RIPPLE). The project formed part of an international study conducted at leading universities and rural research institutes in Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom, and was conducted between March 1997 and July 1999. The survey work was conducted during 1998 and 1999. This text is a condensed version of the Final Regional Report: Ireland (Cawley et al., 1999) compiled at the end of the RIPPLE project in 1999