Irish beach clean-up to amplify ‘Water for Peace` message as part of global UN movement

March 2024

Topic

Szilvia Szabó ⬤ Author

Journalist, Editor

As part of the United Nations World Water Day, celebrated on March 22nd every year, Irish not-for-profit WiseWater will host a special beach clean-up event on Saturday, March 23rd, at Garrylucas Beach in County Cork.

The central theme for this year`s global event is `Water for Peace`, and the organisers of this local gathering aim to join the movement by collecting rubbish at the beach and forming a large peace symbol made up of the trash and people participating.

Elaine Moynihan, Co-Founder of WiseWater, says:

“We want to make a stand together to preserve, protect and care for our water environment.

Our event is about sending the message that ‘every drop counts’, and together, we can create waves of positive change.”

Elaine Moynihan and Katie McShane, Co-Founders of WiseWater

This year, the UN has chosen this specific theme to highlight that water can create peace or spark conflict and that water scarcity, pollution, or unequal access can cause disputes between communities and countries.

They highlight that as the climate crisis escalates and global populations grow, we must conserve and protect water resources as we depend on them to ensure public health, operate food and energy systems, and create economic productivity with environmental integrity.

According to the 2022 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, roughly half of the world’s population was already experiencing severe water scarcity for at least part of that year.

With this special event, creating a giant symbol of peace, Elaine hopes to bring heightened awareness to water and ripple out to make waves of changing our relationship with water.

Young people getting involved in citizen science with WiseWater at Ballinaspittle river. Image: WiseWater

She emphasises that “the sea relentlessly regurgitates plastics and debris, remnants of our human consumption” and that we need to better look after our most precious resource, water.

Elaine adds:

“In Ireland, we often take water for granted, but we would like to raise awareness about the importance of behaviour change when it comes to water usage and the importance of preserving our water environment.”

Explaining their approach, she says they believe that to make people want to care for and protect our environment, they first need to have a relationship with it.

Therefore, they invite people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in this community event, enjoy a day out, and help with the beach clean-up while becoming part of the movement.

Anyone interested in joining, only need to show up at 11.00 on Saturday, March 23rd at the Garrylucas Beach in County Cork.

WiseWater also offers educational workshops for schools, community groups, and workplaces to raise awareness and inspire change by making a connection between our personal well-being and the preservation of water habitats.

Some of their activities include investigating the water quality of local rivers or streams, organising `source to sea` expeditions and connecting communities to local wells through cleanups and discoveries.

Their team has hosted many beach clean-ups in the past and arranged for the rubbish to be collected with Cork County Council, just as will be the case on this occasion.