UNESCO Biosphere - North Bull Island

North Bull Island is a unique site in Ireland and also in an international context in terms of its wealth of habitats and biodiversity. It is visited annually by national and internationally important rare and threatened wintering waders and wildfowl. North Bull Island is also home to a number of rare and threatened plant species. The area is used daily by walkers, wildlife enthusiasts, cyclists, swimmers and golfers at the two golf courses on the "Island"

The North Bull Island is designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere. It is unique in a European context because of a continuous sequence of 10 different undisturbed coastal habitats of European importance, all joined together when most other places only have a few of these! This is particularly significant given that it is located within a Capital city!

A 10 year review was submitted by Dublin City Council to UNESCO in 2014 on how the Council is promoting the Biosphere designation at North Bull Island. The review also proposed extending the designation to Dublin Bay and for this purpose a Dublin Bay Biosphere Partnership was established which includes Fingal County Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council, National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Dublin Port Company. In addition significant focus was placed on engagement with the local and wider community in the city to promote the biodiversity of the Bull Island. Public opinion was gauged through a series of on street conversations, a 'Your Dublin Your Voice' survey and surveys carried out by student interns.

A presentation was made to the SPC(Strategic Policy Group) of the City Council at their February meeting this year, providing an update on the Biosphere and the Dublin City Council Biodiversity Plan.

You can view the SPC meeting which took place on February 9th 2015 here (skip to item 4).