Geography - Books
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Item The Origins, Ethos and Evolution of Co-operative Credit in Ireland(IRD Duhallow Women's Forum and the Centre for Co-operative Studies, University College Cork, 2011) Power, Carol; O'Connor, Ray; McCarthy, Olive; Ward, Michael; Power, Carol; O'Connor, Ray; McCarthy, Olive; Ward, Michael; European CommissionItem Farming for nature: the role of results-based payments(Teagasc and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), 2020) O'Rourke, Eileen; Finn, John A.; Teagasc; Department for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland; Galway Mayo Institute of Technology; University College Cork; University College Cork; European Commission; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland; Coillte, Ireland; Pobal, Ireland; South Kerry Development Partnership, IrelandFarming for Nature: the role of results-based payments’ is an edited book that collates several Irish experiences of developing and applying results-based approaches for the conservation of farmland biodiversity. This book is intended for an international audience of practitioners, policymakers and academics interested in results-based approaches for the conservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services. Results-based approaches are the focus of a growing discussion about improved biodiversity conservation and environmental performance of EU agri-environmental policies. Published by Teagasc and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2020, this book outlines lessons learned from a collection of Irish case studies that have implemented results-based approaches and payments for the conservation of farmland habitats and species. The case studies include prominent projects and programmes: the Burren Programme, AranLIFE, KerryLIFE, the NPWS Farm Plan Scheme and Result-Based Agri-environmental Payment Schemes (RBAPS) project. The case studies and accompanying chapters share some of the Irish experience in developing results-based approaches by, for example, providing actual farm plans and scoring sheets, as well as detailing governance mechanisms, the role of advisory services, the choice of indicators, monitoring details and the relationship between results and payment. The book also includes reflections on the scientific background to results-based approaches and their policy context. It concludes by asking: where do we go from here?Item Re(sounding) holy wells(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018-02) Scriven, Richard; Langan, Vicky; Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht(Re)sounding holy wells was an artistic and cultural heritage project led by Vicky Langan, independent artist, and Dr Richard Scriven, Department of Geography, UCC, to imaginatively explore holy wells in Cork through workshops, audio recordings, and oral histories. It blended contemporary artistic production and cultural heritage in an active and community focused style. Using a collaborative approach with both primary schools and community heritage groups, the project examined and highlighted the roles of holy wells as cultural amenities and sites of vernacular heritage. Through creative workshops, students and local residents shared their accounts of holy wells, focusing on oral history, spoken non-fiction, and photographs/drawings. Primary school classes made audio recordings and took photos at the wells. Fresh understandings of the wells were produced through the use of audio by combining field recordings with accounts of the holy wells from young people and community members.Item CyberParks: The interface between people, places and technology(Springer, 2019-03) Smaniotto Costa, Carlos; Šuklje Erjavec, Ina; Kenna, Therese; de Lange, Michiel; Ioannidis, Konstantinos; Maksymiuk, Gabriela; de Waal, Martijn; Smaniotto Costa, Carlos; Šuklje Erjavec, Ina; Kenna, Therese; de Lange, Michiel; Ioannidis, Konstantinos; Maksymiuk, Gabriela; de Waal, Martijn; European Cooperation in Science and Technology; Horizon 2020This open access book is about public open spaces, about people, and about the relationship between them and the role of technology in this relationship. It is about different approaches, methods, empirical studies, and concerns about a phenomenon that is increasingly being in the centre of sciences and strategies – the penetration of digital technologies in the urban space. As the main outcome of the CyberParks Project, this book aims at fostering the understanding about the current and future interactions of the nexus people, public spaces and technology. It addresses a wide range of challenges and multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging phenomena related to the penetration of technology in people’s lifestyles - affecting therefore the whole society, and with this, the production and use of public spaces. Cyberparks coined the term cyberpark to describe the mediated public space, that emerging type of urban spaces where nature and cybertechnologies blend together to generate hybrid experiences and enhance quality of life.Item Farming the Iveragh uplands: A tale of humans and nature(University College Cork, 2010) Kramm, Nadine; Anderson, Roslyn M.; O'Rourke, Eileen; Emmerson, Mark C.; O'Halloran, John; Chisholm, Nicholas; Science Foundation IrelandThe rugged beauty of the Iveragh peninsula has fascinated many a passing visitor and never fails to make some of us linger or stay for good. For those who need proof of the area’s uniqueness, a variety of national and European designations provide ample attestation of the splendour of Iveragh’s scenery, the diversity of its landscape and its heritage. Being surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic, Iveragh is the largest and most geographically isolated peninsula in Ireland whose western extremity, the Great Skellig, forms the westernmost point of Europe. Despite its maritime location, Iveragh’s character is fundamentally determined by the mountains, valleys and streams that form the peninsula’s interior—the bequest of a landscape sculpted by ice thousands of years ago (Crowley and Sheehan, 2009). Distinctive mountain scene in the Bridia Valley, Glencar Perhaps most distinctive, however, are the extensive blanket bogs and upland heather moorlands that cover most of the peninsula and captivate the imagination with the wild and austere appeal of an area where life did not change much for man and beast until relatively recently. Having come into existence in the wake of woodland clearances, the cutting of vegetation for fuel and the harvesting of crops for food and fiber by Neolithic farmers in the first and second millennium BC, this unique cultural landscape continues to be managed by traditional farmers and their animals to the present day. The value of areas such as Iveragh as repositories of a unique flora and fauna has long been recognized, but they have entered a period of major transformation as the agricultural economy that lay behind them no longer exists (Webb, 1998). The single largest danger is that farming communities may not survive the present discussion of how competitive European agriculture should be, as under present market conditions they are unable to compete without fundamentally changing their way of farming (Luick, 1998). The last 10 years have seen a growing debate over the future of areas like the Iveragh peninsula that may be ‘marginal’ in agricultural terms, but that are quite essential to life in Europe as we know and cherish it. Upland farmed landscapes provide clean water, maintain a rich plant and animal life and help to keep families in regions that offer few alternative employment opportunities – at the same time as attracting millions of tourists each year. The Caragh in Glencar—one of Europe’s cleanest rivers. Such areas, also termed high nature value farmland, cover about 25% of all agricultural land in Ireland and include, besides Iveragh, other parts of Kerry, Connemara, Mayo, Donegal, the Comeraghs, Wicklow, the Burren and the offshore Islands. The farming systems of these areas are characterised by extensive mixed livestock grazing and little agro-chemical inputs combined with labour-intensive management practices. Without dedicated farmers and their families, the character of these areas would change completely leading to the disappearance of unique cultural landscapes with effects such as rural depopulation and the loss of local communities. Already farming systems have changed substantially with livestock being concentrated on better quality land while marginal areas are being abandoned. Along with this, there are changes in the animals being farmed. The traditional Scotch Blackface sheep are increasingly crossed with or replaced by lowland breeds to satisfy market demands for heavy lamb. This has led to a softening in sheep and the fear among farmers that the traditional grazers of the uplands may be extinct in years to come. Going, too, is the use of the native rustic Kerry cow that grazed the rough Farming the Iveragh Uplands grasses, bracken, gorse and soft rushes in the winter - growth that sheep cannot control. Unsurprisingly, this disruption over a relatively short time, in what was formerly a sustainable relationship between farming and nature, will have implications for the area’s flora and fauna. Some of the repercussions are obvious; others need to be researched in more depth if appropriate solutions are to be formulated. It is now a stated objective of EU environment and rural development policy to maintain and conserve traditional farming systems like the one practised on Iveragh. Beyond acknowledging the importance of traditional farming for nature conservation and local livelihoods, it is necessary to understand how such farming systems function and to determine how the inevitable process of change can be redirected to provide a way of life that is socially and economically rewarding for farm families while preserving the farming practices necessary for Iveragh’s unique landscape to persist into the future. In this light, University College Cork (UCC) in conjunction with the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) initiated BioUp, a 3 year research programme to investigate the upland farming system and rich biodiversity associated with it. Managing rural change in the uplands calls for the active involvement of many stakeholders, including farmers and agricultural advisory groups, land owners, conservation groups, forestry, tourism, and local authorities. In the BioUp project, researchers and stakeholders worked closely together. It is hoped that this will help to obtain a better understanding of the social, economic and environmental challenges facing Iveragh and promote greater public appreciation of the indispensable contributions made by farm families to maintaining our unique heritage - a service that has gone unappreciated too long.