Green Coast Award – enhancing unspoilt rural beaches

The Green Coast Award is for beaches in Wales and Ireland which meet EC bathing water quality standards and provide a natural, unspoilt environment, meaning that “the special character of such a beach may not be compatible with the level of infrastructure and intensive management generally associated with more urban, traditional seaside resort beaches”.

The Green Coast Award fills a gap left by the Blue Flag Programme. Like the Blue Flag, the Green Coast Award has clear objectives and community involvement in coastal management.

Green Achiever – Silver in sight

The Green Achiever Scheme attracted my attention enough to contact them. Mandy Stokes, Director of E4environment Ltd which runs the Scheme, provided some answers to my initial questions, and has now provided more, increasingly overcoming my initial cynicism.

Eco-Schools teach eco-citizenship

Eco-Schools is an international programme for schools, for environmental management and certification, and sustainable development education. It started as a European programme in 1994 to involve young people in finding solutions to environmental and sustainable development challenges at the local level, as identified at the UN Conference on Environment and Development – Earth Summit – of 1992. Apparently some 40,000 schools are now involved internationally!

Blue Flag flies standard for beaches, marinas and boats

The Blue Flag is an eco-label awarded to thousands of beaches and marinas across Europe, South Africa, Morocco, New Zealand, Canada and the Caribbean.

The Blue Flag works towards sustainable development at beaches/marinas through strict criteria dealing with water quality, environmental education and information, environmental management, and safety and other services. The Programme includes environmental education and information for the public, decision makers and tourism operators. For boats there is a code of conduct.

Green Achiever Scheme: some concerns registered and answered

Previously I expressed concerns about the Green Achiever Scheme and the requirements to reach its first level, “Registered”. So I wrote to the Green Achiever Scheme to put my questions.

Mandy Stoker, Director of E4environment Ltd, replied promptly. Firstly she gave a useful clarification of what the whole Scheme is about, and then answered some of my specific concerns.

Green Flag Awards Green Spaces

The Green Flag Awards scheme is the national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The Green Flag Award is open to any freely accessible green space, urban or rural.

On an armchair walk around winning sites and pictures of people involved, this looks likes it been enthusiastically embraced by many local communities.

Green Achiever Scheme: three levels of what?

Proving one’s eco-friendly credentials may be the thing to do, but the Green Achiever Scheme left me cynical.