Ballyhoura Development is one of the four organisations across Europe that have been selected to take part in the European Union's Shared Green Deal Biodiversity Stream.

To this end, we have been working with individuals interested in biodiversity around how they perceive, value, and relate to biodiversity in the Ballyhoura area.  This work is ongoing and will culminate in a showcase event in late Spring 2024.

Ballyhoura Development took part in a lighthouse tour that took place in Athens on the 14th and 15th of November. The 1.5-day event brought together the four local partners of the Biodiversity Stream of the project - Ballyhoura Development, along with organisations from Slovenia, Sweden and Greece - to discuss the progress of their projects that are investigating the perception of biodiversity in Europe.

The group also had the opportunity to visit the urban green spaces of the municipality of Amaroussion in Athens to directly experience how the most important financial and business suburb of Athens is protecting its biodiversity. This included a walking tour of the Syngros Forest, which was guided by Dr. Georgios Mpalotis from the Agricultural Sciences Foundation.

Participants learned about the typical Mediterranean flora of the area and visited an urban beekeeping museum, which gave them a close-up look at traditional Greek beekeeping techniques and the opportunity to learn more about their cultural significance.

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