Celebrate World Water Day 22nd March at special screening of River Runner in Bantry

CELEBRATE UN WORLD WATER DAY

SPECIAL SCREENING OF
RIVER RUNNER
BANTRY CINEMA SUNDAY 22^ND MARCH at 8pm

Attend a special screening of River Runner at Bantry Cinema at 8pm on 22nd March 2015 to mark UN World Water Day, the theme for 2015 is Water & Sustainability. This event will have inputs from the Director, Declan O’Mahony and contributors Alan Nolan & Kevin Corcoran. Mark Boyden, Coomhola Salmon Trust and Chairperson, Sustainable Water Network will also participate.

The film is the untold story of the River Lee from source to sea. It is an in-depth portrait of the Lee system which highlights the dilemma of the wild Atlantic Salmon, the demise of the Pearl Water Mussel and the clear felling of an ancient and rare inland forest delta

2015 Water and Sustainable Development

2015 is a seminal year with the intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. Given water’s essential role for development, the focus of the 2015 World Water Day is on ‘Water and Sustainable Development’ with UNDP as the lead coordinator.
“Water is at the core of sustainable development” is a key quote in UN-Water’s ‘Strategy to 2020’. Yet few fully understand what sustainable development means – and if they have a definition, it likely differs from another person’s. This is why World Water Day: The 2015 Campaign will tell the sustainability story around water. It aims to raise awareness and inspire global action. For this to happen, there needs to be strong learning component as sustainability means weaving water into a wide range of issues, from WASH to energy, from food to industry.
World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater and is coordinated by one or more Member(s) on behalf of UN-Water.   Website Link http://www.unwater.org/

Some initiatives supporting water sustainability in Ireland:

• Sustainable Water Network , SWAN, is a network of Ireland’s leading environmental organisations working to ensure that new Water Framework Directive water management plans provide this protection. Details at swanireland.ie
• Streamscapes & Coomhola Salmon Trust – In 1989 good general environmental education programmes weren’t really on the map yet in Ireland…it was in that year that Coomhola Salmon Trust was founded by Paul Kearney and Mark Boyden, based at a small research facility on a tributary of the Coomhola River.  Between producing native salmon stocking projects for Irish southwest rivers, helping with the efforts to reintroduce salmon to the great River Rhine, and hosting successful freshwater pearl mussel captive breeding research, the StreamScapes Aquatic & Biodiversity Education Project was conceived to assist with wider efforts to conserve our waters and our wilds. More information streamscapes.ie