A eco-tourism project with intercommunity, intercounty and international strands involving the creation of a website of wild locations in the Slieve Bloom mountains was launched in Kinnity, Co Offaly, yesterday by environmental scientist Dr John Feehan.
Slieve Bloom Rural Development Co-operative has identified five sites of rich biodiversity on the mountains, and is mapping them digitally and placing them on a website to facilitate those wishing to visit them.
At the village's community centre yesterday, Dr Feehan explained that what was happening in the area was unique in Ireland, and placed Offaly and Laois ahead of the rest of the country in the implementation of the national biodiversity plan.
"This area has already developed a strong infrastructure involving walking tourism, but this project takes that a stage further by giving intellectual access to the wonders of the area.
"While physical access to the sites is available and works well, we want to tell people what they are looking at in terms of the world around them; the landscape and the flora and fauna and everything else they will see," he said.
Christina Byrne, chairwoman of the co-operative, said the project, for which €105,000 has been raised from EU and local funding, said the project had elements of tourism, education and sustainability.
"We will be linking the five sites of biodiversity by walking trails, and we hope to attract people who are interested in the environment, activity groups, and schools to the area.
"Educational packs will be available on the internet, and these will have maps of the area with access points for the visitors.
"The Slieve Bloom eco-tourism project has a transnational dimension with a sister project in Tuscany, Italy, and similar projects in Poland and in the mid-Pyrenees," she said.
Dr Feehan said while the national biodiversity plan, which was published nine years ago, had "nice pictures and platitudes", its implementation on the ground had been extremely slow.
"Britain is miles ahead of us because it has the resources, but here in Co Offaly the council, which is part funding this project with Co Laois, is to adopt a biodiversity plan to be known as the Tullamore Declaration on Monday."
He said the first site, Knockbarron, had the best example in the world of an esker rock formations left behind by the retreating ice fields 12,000 years ago. It was internationally recognised.
The information displayed on the website will include information on biodiversity, archaeology, folklore and landscape.