![\"group](\"https:\/\/kcetb.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Wildacres1-1024x542.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In June, KCETB Chief Executive Dr Lindsay Malone and Director of Schools Dr Pauline Egan joined education system leaders at Wildacres, Co. Wicklow, to help shape Our D\u00falra Agreement, a national commitment to nature-rich education. KCETB is now embedding the Agreement across the whole organisation. Here is what it means for our schools, centres and services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr Lindsay Malone, Chief Executive, and Dr Pauline Egan, Director of Schools, at Wildacres, Co. Wicklow, in June 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n D\u00falra is the Irish word for nature, and Our D\u00falra Agreement asks everyone who leads in Irish education a simple question: are we putting nature first? For KCETB, the answer is yes. The Agreement sets out six commitments to make school and educational grounds richer in biodiversity, and to make care for nature part of how we plan, teach, lead and govern.<\/p>\n Ireland is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, ranking 13th lowest of 230 countries and territories on the Biodiversity Intactness Index. Nature underpins both our climate and our economy, and we cannot tackle climate change without protecting and restoring the ecosystems around us. Biodiversity is not a \u2018nice to have\u2019, it is an absolute necessity.<\/p>\n The Citizens\u2019 Assembly on Biodiversity Loss and the National Nature Restoration Plan have both issued an urgent call to action, and both specifically recommend more nature engagement and biodiversity education in schools. That means creating nature-rich spaces on school grounds where students and staff can learn how to care for the living world around them.<\/p>\n The Department of Education and Youth has put important supports in place through policy frameworks, school funding and curriculum reform, and genuine progress has been made on school grounds. But the pace of change has not yet matched the scale of the ecological crisis. It needs to increase.<\/p>\n In September 2025, the Irish Schools Sustainability Network (ISSN) convened the Biodiversity Working Group for Schools (BWGS), a collective of expert organisations helping schools turn their grounds into biodiverse spaces. Their starting point will be familiar to many of us: much of the best work in schools is driven by individual champions and passionate students, often working in isolation.<\/p>\n To scale that energy, the group set out to partner with education system leaders. Influence in education flows downward, students focus on what teachers value, teachers align with senior leadership, and school leaders respond to the priorities of system leaders such as ETBs. A clear signal from the top that nature matters gives principals and teachers the mandate to act.<\/p>\n In June 2026, Our D\u00falra Agreement: A Commitment to a Nature-Rich Education was presented to education system leaders at Wildacres, a nature reserve in Co. Wicklow. Dr Lindsay Malone and Dr Pauline Egan represented KCETB on the day, working alongside other leaders to co-create a strategy for putting the Agreement\u2019s six articles into practice.<\/p>\n Comments from Minister Hildegard Naughton, in a video address, drew on the words of David Attenborough:<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is that no species have ever had such wholesale control over everything on Earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth. Today, we look to you, as leaders, to drive that action forward.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0Minister Hildegard Naughton, video address at Wildacres, June 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Leaders identified five key actions to drive the Agreement forward:<\/p>\n \u201cThe implementation of Our D\u00falra 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. This shared commitment will help create a more sustainable future for current and future generations.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0Dr Lindsay Malone, Chief Executive, KCETB<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOur schools are already doing wonderful work for nature, much of it led by committed teachers and students. What Wildacres made clear is that this work grows when it has leadership behind it. I want every KCETB school to see biodiversity as part of who we are ,\u00a0 on our grounds, in our planning and in our classrooms,\u00a0 and I look forward to supporting our principals and teacher champions to make that happen.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Dr Pauline Egan, Director of Schools, KCETB<\/strong><\/p>\n Improving Biodiversity in Educational Grounds<\/strong><\/td>\n Mapping for Biodiversity<\/strong><\/td>\n Leadership Connection for Biodiversity<\/strong><\/td>\n Values and School Governance for Biodiversity<\/strong><\/td>\n Empowering Teacher Leadership for Biodiversity<\/strong><\/td>\n A Whole School Culture for Biodiversity<\/strong><\/td>\n Our D\u00falra Agreement was written with school grounds in mind, but Dr Malone\u2019s commitment reaches across the whole organisation, our schools and colleges, our further education and training centres, our offices and our services. In practice, that means:<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to be an expert. The technical knowledge already exists \u2013 what matters is leadership and a willingness to act. Some simple, often low-cost places to start:<\/p>\nWhy it matters<\/h5>\n
Where the Agreement comes from<\/h5>\n
KCETB at Wildacres<\/h5>\n
\n
![\"group](\"https:\/\/kcetb.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/002-DVR53008-1024x686.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA whole-of-organisation commitment<\/h5>\n
The six articles of Our D\u00falra Agreement<\/h5>\n
\n\n
\n ARTICLE 1<\/strong><\/p>\n We commit to actively improve biodiversity across our educational grounds, transforming lawns to meadows and grey spaces into green biodiversity-rich ones.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ARTICLE 2<\/strong><\/p>\n We encourage schools to engage with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and to map out their school grounds for biodiversity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ARTICLE 3<\/strong><\/p>\n We commit to staying connected as a network of leaders, ideally in a biodiversity-rich setting to share good practice, witness successful nature-based projects first-hand, and strengthen our collective resolve to improve biodiversity in educational grounds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ARTICLE 4<\/strong><\/p>\n We pledge to support school communities to ensure that biodiversity becomes a core value of daily life in school and school governance.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ARTICLE 5<\/strong><\/p>\n We commit to advocating for teacher champions to take action on improving biodiversity on school grounds, to engage in professional learning and knowledge sharing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ARTICLE 6<\/strong><\/p>\n We aim to foster a whole school culture where every member of the school community will be thinking with a nature-first mindset, making decisions that consider nature, and living in a way that honours and respects nature to be reflected in the campus, curriculum and community.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n What this means across KCETB<\/h5>\n
\n
What you can do<\/h5>\n