CrÓgA

Climate-Resilient Opportunities for Generations Ahead

What is Cróga?

Cróga means “Brave” in Irish and is the acronym of “Climate-Resilient Opportunities for Generations Ahead”.

Cróga is the ongoing GEAI climate action initiative.

Cróga does independent research, facilitates inclusive community dialogue and animates bottom-up policies and actions. The aim is to pave the way for a Just Transition to a Net-Zero county which will enhance the livelihoods of present and future rural communities.

Cróga is the first initiative of its kind, employing an original county-centred methodology to account and tackle our Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions, domestically. The same methodology is transferrable to other sub-national areas.

The Cróga initiative has three phases:

Phase 1. GEAI researchers, with advice from national experts, study the current levels of annual GHG emissions and removals in the county. This consists in the accounting of heath-trapping emissions from the main activity sectors in Leitrim, e.g. agriculture and transport, as well as sequestration of carbon dioxide by natural carbon sinks, such as forestland. The output of phase 1 is a baseline inventory report, a snap-shot of the county’s carbon balance (flows).

Phase 2. GEAI facilitates Climate Dialogue sessions, inclusive and democratic spaces where anyone who cares about the current climate & biodiversity crisis can participate. The dialogue is open to individual citizens, private sector stakeholders, local statutory organizations and community groups. They are a moment of education, awareness rising, sharing and hands-on cooperation. The final goal of the Climate Dialogue sessions is to turn ideas into workable climate actions. Through dialogue, focus groups get together, brainstorm and co-design climate-resilient initiatives that will feed in a Cróga Action Plan tailored to Leitrim, leaving no one behind.

Phase 3. This phase sees the finalisation and adoption of the Cróga Action Plan: a mix of policy reccomendations, transition scenarios and, of course, workable carbon reduction initiatives, stemming from the Climate Dialogue community. The Cróga Action Plan is the basis for the further transormative change of a all-society towards just transition and ecological awakening in rural communities.

Best practices are shared along the way and hopefully inspire other communities to follow suit.

The ultimate goal of Cróga is to empower Irish rural communities, making them climate-proof, thriving and sustainable.

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