ABSTRACT
The island of Ireland is marked as much by peripherality as by its self-consciously marketed image as the ‘Emerald Isle’ of rolling green hills and valleys, rugged coastlines, misty topped mountains and wild bogs and wetlands. Whether peripherality is interpreted literally in the sense of Ireland being to the west of mainland Europe, or politically, culturally and historically in terms of its colonial experience and post-colonial legacies which continue to shape and mark it, the island of Ireland has, until relatively recently, neglected environmental and sustainable development issues. This is particularly so in the case of the Irish countryside where the politics of sustainable development can cover a wide range of positions. Farmers and rural communities can be viewed, for instance, as being ecological stewards of the land and as being the biggest threat to sustainable development in the countryside.
