Making the Mourne-Gullion-Strangford region a UNESCO Geo Park: what a brilliant idea?

If it was up to me, I would have all of Northern Ireland included within such a submission.

Just think of it: at a time when local agriculture has to front-up to the general public’s demand for a transparent response to climate change, here comes this all embracing comfort blanket of Geo Park status.

Looking ahead, it could be conveniently thrown into the discussion on those occasions when anyone might dare to tarnish the environmental credentials of our local farming and food sectors. And I am not being flippant in making this point. The reality is that a rich, agricultural heritage going back hundreds of years has been at the core of making the Mourne-Gullion-Strangford region what it is today.

So why not take the opportunity of telling the world what this means in a positive way? And if it is a case of compensating farmers for specific management decisions that they have to take into the future, so be it! In this new, unfettered, post-Brexit world London will have all the authority to make decisions of this kind a firm reality.

So what is a Geo-Park? In essence, they are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.

At present, there are 177 UNESCO Global Geoparks in 46 countries. So, is South Down and the Ards’ Peninsula about to become number 178. We should know by the end of May next year. Significantly, the Marble Arch Caves became the first Geo Park to straddle an international border. All of this stacks up, I believe, as a good news story for farming and food here in Northern Ireland.

Developments of this nature come with real international clout, which is backed up with impeccable levels of independent accreditation. It all seems like a win:win scenario to me.