Landscape context and pressures

The South-East Ireland bioregion is a predominantly rolling lowland defined by broad river valleys, coastal flats, and isolated upland areas — shaped by nature and culture rather than county boundaries. Based around County Waterford and extending into neighbouring counties, the bioregion is home to around 200,000 people and an economy rooted in agriculture, primarily dairy and arable.

Ireland’s EPA rates the country moderate to very poor across all five key environmental themes: climate, air quality, nature, water and waste. South-East Ireland is highlighted as an area of particular concern for water quality. Habitat loss and fragmentation from agriculture, forestry, and urban expansion are degrading farmland, rivers, and wetlands. Biodiversity is declining, including loss of pollinators and native fish. Flooding and soil erosion in river valleys and coastal plains are intensifying with extreme weather. And land consolidation is threatening the patchwork farming landscape that defines this place.

Despite growing awareness, restoration efforts in Ireland remain fragmented, with no widespread, coordinated approach at landscape scale.

What are we doing there?

Bioregional mapping and shared understanding: Community-led mapping to understand ecological, cultural, and landscape assets and aspirations — including a pioneering Land Observatory piloted with SETU post-doctoral research to track land-use change using the 4 Returns as an assessment framework.

Bioregional finance innovation: Designing new finance instruments including catalyst grants, a world-first Bioregional Basic Income (awarded September 2025 to local food producer Roger Ahern), and whole-bioregion investment portfolios. A Bioregional Finance Circle is forming in 2026.

Community projects and concept circles: Supporting emerging regenerative initiatives such as Our Farm at Bushy Park (a community-supported farm with 15+ households) and connecting projects through thematic concept circles.

Manifesto and visioning: The Waterford Bioregion Food Manifesto — co-written in 2022 by 40 farmers, teachers, growers, decision-makers, and citizens — sets long-term goals for food systems and land use.

All-Ireland bioregioning movement: Catalysing an island-wide network through movement-forming gatherings, exploring how place-based approaches across Ireland can cohere.

EcoFABULAnds: A Horizon-funded agroecology consortium project kicking off in 2026, using the bioregion as a living lab for mapping, co-creation, and experimentation.

We want our children and grandchildren to know the taste of wild salmon and the foods those before us enjoyed. We want to be good guardians of the soil, and of our traditions. We want to become good ancestors.

Waterford Manifesto

Challenges and opportunities

Challenges

• Habitat loss and fragmentation from agriculture, forestry, and urban expansion
• Water quality degradation from nutrient runoff, sedimentation, and pollution
• Biodiversity decline in farmland, rivers, and wetlands
• Flooding and soil erosion intensified by extreme weather
• Land consolidation threatening the patchwork farming landscape
• Fragmented restoration efforts with no coordinated landscape-scale approach
• Ireland’s restoration finance landscape is still developing

Opportunities

• A strong tradition of cooperative action and place-based initiatives to build on
• Growing public and policy awareness of the need for landscape-scale restoration
• Pioneering bioregional finance instruments that could serve as models for Ireland and beyond
• The bioregioning movement is gaining momentum across the island
• Horizon-funded research partnerships (EcoFABULAnds) bringing international collaboration
• Deep cultural connection to land that can power the Return of Inspiration
• Connection to a European network of Bioregional Weaving Labs for cross-border learning

Vision for the landscape

BioSEI is guided by the Waterford Bioregion Food Manifesto — an ambitious, emotional statement of the regenerative future its community aspires to. The vision is of a South-East Ireland where healthy ecosystems, thriving food systems, and strong communities are woven together at bioregional scale, led by the people who live and work in this place.

BioSEI sees itself not as a single organisation but as a movement: everyone and everything choosing to work collectively for a better future, within and beyond the bioregion.