Minister launches ‘COP for Schools’ as education leaders pledge to bring nature back to school grounds

Minister launches ‘COP for Schools’ as education leaders pledge to bring nature back to school grounds

Ireland’s education system leaders are making a public commitment to nature, with the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, yesterday launching ‘Our Dúlra Agreement’ at Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School in Dublin 24.

Modelled on the pledges made by countries at a UN Conference of the Parties (COP), the Agreement invites education system leaders and educational organisations to commit to encouraging and supporting schools to improve biodiversity on their grounds.

Edmund Rice Schools Trust, Educate Together, Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (ETB), Galway Roscommon ETB and Le Chéile Schools Trust, Dublin Dunlaoghaire ETB, Cork ETB, Irish Waldorf Education Association and Dublin West Education Support Centre are among the latest signatories. They join the first signatories: 18 Education Support Centres, from Donegal to West Cork, Accelerating Change Together (ACT), Global Action Plan Ireland, the Irish Forest Schools Association and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD).

While schools across Ireland are already leading the way in caring for nature and teaching nature education, much of this work rests on the shoulders of one or two committed teachers. Our Dúlra Agreement marks a significant shift, calling on the wider education system to take responsibility for supporting biodiversity and ensuring it becomes part of the whole school community.

Education Support Centres, Education and Training Boards, patron bodies, management bodies and educational trusts are committing to lead by example and support schools in becoming sanctuaries for biodiversity.

Minister O’Sullivan said: “When education leaders came together at Wildacres in June to shape this Agreement, I said their leadership was vital. Today they are putting their names to it. Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan needs a whole-of-society response, and our schools are the soil where that restoration takes root. With this Agreement, school grounds can move beyond tarmac and mown grass to places where children watch nature come back. Last month, I joined world leaders at COP17 in Armenia to commit to speeding up efforts to protect and restore nature at a global level.  Making nature restoration a living reality in every school in Ireland is an important way of honouring these international commitments at home”.

Dr Lindsay Malone, Chief Executive of Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (KCETB), said: “The implementation of Our Dúlra Agreement is a whole-of-organisation commitment for KCETB. By embedding its principles across our learning environments, operations, programmes and decision-making, we can work collectively to enhance biodiversity, strengthen environmental stewardship, and ensure respect for nature is reflected in how we learn, lead and serve our communities.”

The launch takes place during the World Leaders’ Summit at COP31, the UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye (9–20 November), following the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP17, in Yerevan, Armenia (19–30 October). Ireland is preparing its first national Nature Restoration Plan under the EU Nature Restoration Law, with the final plan due in September 2027.

Schools are a natural place to begin. The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recommended that school grounds be developed to support diverse and meaningful nature education, while the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration has called on the Department of Education and Youth to embed ecological literacy across primary and post-primary education.

Research also highlights the benefits of nature for children’s learning and wellbeing. A study of more than 2,500 schoolchildren in Spain found that those in greener schools made bigger gains in working memory and attention over a year. A Danish study of almost one million people found that children who grew up with the least green space had up to a 55% higher risk of developing a mental health disorder later in life.

Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, DCU, who formerly chaired the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration and Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, said: “In preparing children and young people to engage in society and the world around them, it is hugely important to ensure they learn about nature and get to enjoy spending time in flourishing natural environments. Not only is this good for their health and wellbeing, it can benefit their educational outcomes and achievement, teach them about food systems, and connect them with living things that allow us to thrive.”

The commitment is already reaching schools. This autumn, six Education Support Centres in Limerick, Dublin West, Cork, Donegal, Laois and Waterford are hosting Whole-School Biodiversity Train-the-Trainer days. Schools are asked to send a principal or deputy principal alongside a member of staff, ensuring leadership is part of the process. Each school leaves ready to train its whole staff, with the start of its own Dúlra plan mapped on its grounds. The next session takes place in Waterford tomorrow, Friday 13 November.

Our Dúlra Agreement has grown out of the Irish Schools Sustainability Network (ISSN), a community of teachers volunteering their time to change the system from within. It is supported by a steering committee and driven in practice by the Biodiversity Working Group for Schools, comprising Biodiversity in Schools, Education Support Centres Ireland, Green-Schools, ISSN, Learning About Forests and Ecosystem, and the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

Dr Patrick Kirwan, Founding Director of the Irish Schools Sustainability Network (ISSN), said: “Many of us left school without ever being taught to love and respect nature, and to understand that every part of our lives depends on it. It’s time to break that cycle. Schools take their cue from the people who lead them, and when education system leaders sign this Agreement, they get behind the great work already happening in schools across Ireland, so that every child grows up with that connection, not just the lucky few.”

The Agreement was introduced in June 2026, when the Biodiversity Working Group for Schools brought education system leaders together at Wildacres, a 17.5-acre nature reserve on the Redcross River in Co. Wicklow, to co-create a strategy for putting it into practice. Leaders identified practical actions they could take to support their schools, with video messages from the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton TD, and Minister O’Sullivan stressing the need for leadership.

Education system leaders and organisations can sign up by downloading the Agreement at www.issn.ie/durla-agreement, bringing it to their board and emailing the signed copy to info@issn.ie. ISSN also invites funders who support work in schools to get in touch.