People's Transition: Carndonagh
The People’s Transition is a participative decision-making model for climate action. It views climate action as an enabler of local development, giving people and communities ownership of the transition to zero-carbon societies. The People’s Transition seeks to deliver a bottom-up approach to transition that builds local wealth, enables local ownership of climate action and empowers local people.
Inside the People's Transition in Carndonagh
The Carndonagh People’s Transition began in June 2024. The intention of the project was to listen to and learn from the community’s needs and abilities and then attempt to co-design a number of climate actions that would benefit the community and address development priorities. The project had three phases: mapping, community engagement, and the co-creation of solutions.
Mapping
The first phase was the mapping phase which aimed to build a picture of the Carndonagh community, outlining a geographical scope for the project that represents the people who live there. The key was understanding how people within the community could be included by assessing who was at the greatest risk of being excluded. In addition to demographics and circumstances, the area was studied to understand the distribution of institutions and organisations, such as schools, churches, and community groups, that play a significant role in the locality.
Community Engagement
The mapping phase informed the rollout of the second phase – the community engagement phase. Key enabling factors for this phase were an active community and voluntary network in Carndonagh. TASC was conscious that this report tapped into the good will of the community and the deep interest of people in improving their area. This made the community engagement phase easier and is a strong base to take forward the project actions. To gather information on community needs and priorities, participatory workshops were held with the wider community. Alongside this, focus group discussions were organised with groups across the community. Interviews were also held with stakeholders working in community development and climate action. Throughout the community engagement phase an online survey was promoted in the community to ensure that the emerging picture was correct.
Understanding Carndonagh
Across consultations, common themes emerged. The importance of social connections and strong community links was apparent. People spoke of the vibrant and engaged community in Carndonagh, with active participation of people in local initiatives. The innovation of community groups was raised regularly, with a variety of community groups seen as leading the way on sustainability activities.
Alongside the strength of community, the natural heritage was seen as what made Carndonagh unique, with rich natural habitats across the area. People highlighted that the wealth of these natural habitats generated a lot of positive will towards engaging in community actions to protect the environment. However, climate actions that focused on individual behaviour change that incurred high costs or policies that felt imposed from a national level, were seen less positively. Linked to this, turf cutting was a contentious issue. Some people expressed frustration at the imposition of bans on peat-cutting that didn’t engage with realities of people’s lives, while others felt that protecting Carndonagh’s peatlands was important for overall climate action and biodiversity protection. Carndonagh’s designation as a Decarbonising Zone was seen as a strong positive for the town and an example of community-led and government supported climate action.
Employment opportunities were a high priority in the area. People spoke of the frustration of young people needing to move away from the area for work or third level education and felt there should be more training opportunities locally. A lack of safe, affordable housing was an issue across consultations. This was described as reflecting a national problem but one made particularly acute in Inishowen due to the Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB)/mica crisis. People spoke of the anger and frustration across the community in how challenging it was to seek adequate redress for DCB/mica impacted homes. People also spoke of the frustration at services closing and a lack of medical services locally.
Co-Creation of Solutions
Based on these consultations, actions were co-created with members of the community at an action planning workshop, and with project stakeholders. The actions detailed in this report seek to address the priorities of the community to ensure that climate action provides tangible benefits, highlighting the positives of a just transition.
Green Skills
The first proposed action is to build a training and apprenticeship programme in key green skills in Carndonagh. Across the community consultations, the importance of locally available training opportunities was raised. Green jobs are seen as a major source of job growth in the future of work, with skills development programmes crucial to the achievement of a just transition. Ireland’s National Climate Action Plan states that people must be equipped with the right skills to be able to participate in and benefit from the future net zero economy. On-the-job training is an important element of green skill building. Through the consultations and action-planning process, skills building in retrofitting, ecology and horticulture were recognised as important for the local area, and skills that could be supported through local apprenticeships.
Edible Neighbourhood
The second action seeks to use public and common spaces across Carndonagh for community food growing as part of an edible neighbourhood approach. This action promotes sustainable approaches to food through the growing of edibles in public places. Community growing spaces can serve as multifunctional nature-based solutions to achieve climate and social benefits.
Learning from Rivers
The third action, developed by members of ECO Carn would look at building education on the cultural heritage and biodiversity of Carndonagh’s rivers and developing actions to support their protection. It would draw on the skills across ECO Carn members on heritage, waterways, and biodiversity. Learning both from nature and from diverse cultures will be a key component of this action, through sharing and
exchange of river stories from new communities in Carndonagh.
Relation to Carndonagh’s Decarbonising Zone plan
These three actions, emerging from the People’s Transition process also sit alongside Carndonagh’s Decarbonising Zone plan. The People’s Transition process and Decarbonising Zone plans were part of the same framework for “fostering a thriving community in Carndonagh that not only respects and preserves the natural beauty of their surroundings but actively engages in restoring and regenerating the environment, taking achievable and impactful steps towards a sustainable future.'' It is hoped that the process, as much as the proposed actions, provokes thought about how investment in climate action can address existing development needs rather than perpetuate them.