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Galway County’s Partner Forest Program
In February 2023, Galway County Council (GCC) and the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) signed an MOU to formally initiate a multifaceted Partner Forest program in Galway, Ireland. The goal of the Galway Partner Forest program is to create a robust green and sustainable wood procurement policy that is supported by physical examples that embody the policy’s sustainability criteria.
In order to do this, the proposed program employs two equally important components.
Sustainable Wood Procurement Innovation
In anticipation of the upcoming Green Public Procurement requirements for Irish local authorities, Galway County Council committed to working with Greenville Procurement Partners, to co-create a green and sustainable purchasing policy for wood in furniture and construction. Being an integral part of Galway County’s Partner Forest Program, this policy is intended to build long-term opportunities to create mutually beneficial relationships between local governments and forests worldwide to help promote knowledge of the sustainable consumption of forest products, protect biodiversity, restore global climate health and support forest communities' livelihoods and wellbeing. The policy will be launched in early 2024 and will be based on the Sustainable Wood for Cities framework.
Working with Sustainable Forestry in Brazil
Through the Cities4Forests initiative, Pilot Projects, WoodConnect and the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) will deliver a sustainable tropical wood skills project with conservation timber from the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The project was launched in September, and will allow students to produce unique public infrastructure for Galway County Council to consider incorporating into their broader spatial plans, such as Galway’s Sustainable Mobility and Transportation initiatives. Students will also be shown how Galway’s new policy can be used to sustainably source wood from inner, nearby, and faraway forests.
Conservation of local biodiversity is a top priority for maintaining the concessions' FSC certification.
Much of Galway County's public infrastrcture – e.g. benches – are made with indistinct wood species, often ill-suited to the local climate.