MULTICULTURAL GARDEN The Multicultural Garden project, finished last June, was an ECO-UNESCO project carried out in conjunction with Dublin City Council and the Dublin City Development Board and funded by the National Action Plan Against Racism. The aim of the project was to use environmental education as an anti-racism tool. The Multicultural Garden Project included the design and development of a multi cultural garden with a group of children from different ethnic backgrounds. The creation of an outdoor multicultural garden provided a much-needed green space, learning tool and natural habitat in the grounds of the James St. CBS (Primary School), located in Dublin city centre. The design of the garden also reflected the diverse social make-up of the local people and contained a wide variety of plants from around the globe as well as indigenous Irish species. The main areas of the garden include the pond, the fruit trees and bushes, the vegetable patch, the herb bed and the wild patch. This project although directly involving practical environmental improvement and conservation for the local area, was also a unique social project as the plants chosen and the children involved will represent diverse cultural backgrounds coming together. The workshops were divided into an indoor prep time, and then the outdoor gardening. “Digging is a lot of fun because we can get dirty”, said Graham, 12 years old. Now that all the groundwork is over, we’ve also put in place a system of maintenance for the garden in summer and it’s looking fantastic! ECO-UNESCO recognises the importance of anti-racism initiatives and welcome supporters who would be interested in funding the continuation of this project. For further information, contact: Joana Cunha / Claire Lyons Environmental Youth Officer Tel: 01 6625491 Fax: 01 6625493 E-mail: youth@ecounesco.ie