Minister Bruton Announces Scheme for Community Led Climate Action
The Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund (LA21) which has operated since 1997, promotes sustainable development by assisting small-scale environmental projects at local level. The Scheme has been renamed the Community Environment Action Fund from 2019 onwards.
Groups seeking funding for eligible projects are invited to make an application to their local authority (application forms are available from the local authorities). Completed application forms should be returned to the relevant local authority at the latest by 5pm, 27 September 2019. Local authority contacts and further information on the Fund can be obtained from the Department's website here:
The projects involve partnership arrangements between local authorities and various local groups including community groups, schools and environmental NGOs.
The Fund encourages involvement of local communities in local action and decision-making and assists them in working towards the goal of sustainable development. The value of the scheme is enhanced by the voluntary effort that it facilitates.
The Community Environment Action Fund assists sustainable development from the ground-up and facilitates, at local level, the achievement of the objectives of the Agenda 21 action plan on sustainable development which was agreed at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992 (the "Earth Summit"). Renewed political commitment for sustainable development was secured at the Rio +20 Conference in Brazil in June 2012, on the 20th anniversary of the "Earth Summit'.
The Fund is administered by local authorities, while the Department maintains a co-ordinating role. Eligible projects are those which support and complement, at a local level, national environmental policies such as those on Waste, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Air, Water and Sustainable Development. Local authorities are required to provide an equivalent amount of funding to successful projects as the funding provided by the Department. Funding can also be supplemented by other sources, e.g. the private sector, in order to maximise the potential for partnership arrangements.
