A new biodiversity and sustainability festival is to be held in the RDS in May.

On Thursday 2 and Friday 3 May, the RDS will host 'Finding Common Ground', a festival on biodiversity and sustainability which aims to bring together scientists, researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, practitioners, advocates and RDS members.

They will explore the latest advancements, challenges and solutions in the fields of biodiversity conservation and sustainable practices.

The inaugural two-day event is being delivered as one of the RDS Foundation's social impact programmes.

Panel discussions

Presentations and panel discussions will take place, which will explore how Ireland can harness the benefits of our natural resources and the circular economy to create increased awareness, education and identification of solutions to act on.

Alongside this, a number of awards ceremonies will take place to celebrate best practice in these areas.

Commenting on the upcoming event, RDS Foundation deputy chief executive Niamh De Loughry said: “There are many barriers to sustainable development in Ireland and the RDS is poised to play a role in addressing them alongside key partners through events and initiatives such as this upcoming festival.”

There will be three leadership sessions at the two-day event. They include summit forest futures, vision 300 finding common ground and summit delivering biodiversity on agricultural land.

RDS awards

The award ceremonies taking place across the two days including:

  • RDS forestry and livestock awards - the Irish forest and woodland awards recognise and reward farmers and woodland owners that have adopted climate-smart agricultural practices on their properties. The RDS livestock awards are the only awards of their kind in Ireland that recognise the genetic merit of animals based on scientific indices.
  • RDS circular economy awards - highlight the benefits the circular economy can bring to both producers and consumers and showcase the practical examples of the circular economy in action.

  • RDS sustainability awards - celebrate the work of individuals, farm families and organisations who are enhancing the economic, environmental and social development of Irish agriculture and rural communities.