Our People, Place and Story
Our People
Sarah Prosser
Weaver and CEO
Sarah is employed as the chief ‘weaver’ of social-ecological change in BWL SE Ireland. She also works in Norway as an academic and consultant within the fields of social innovation and community development. Her background is in geology, film, cultural relations and the social and solidarity economy.
Peter Ploeg
Board Member & Commonland
Pieter has spent 15 years working toward a regenerative society and thriving ecosystems. As a Design Strategist at Commonland Foundation, he focuses on social innovation for systemic holistic restoration of landscapes in Europe. He also co-founded Terranu, a regenerative farm in Lismore, Co. Waterford.
Una Fitzpatrick
Board Member
Úna has worked as an ecologist for over 20 years and is currently the Chief Scientific Officer within the National Biodiversity Data Centre. She is passionate about change making and in 2015 she set up the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.
Thomas Ball
Strategic Advisor
Thomas is Director of Nature and Land Use at KPMG Sustainable Futures. A scientist by training with a career spanning corporate sustainability strategy, communications, policy and advocacy. He was previously Head of Business Advocacy at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and also ran a documentary making business working with clients such as The Guardian and National Geographic.
Ray McGrath
BWL Ambassador
Ray McGrath is a local community member who comes from a fishing family and lives in Cheekpoint (County Waterford, Ireland), where the tides ebb and flow. He wants his children to enjoy the taste of wild salmon and other nutritious food, naturally sourced.
Governance
To ensure transparency and avoid conflicts of interest within the governance of Bioregional Weaving Alliance Ireland (BWAI), we adhere to strict protocols. Given that Pieter Ploeg is both an employee of Commonland, which co-funds BWAI, and a member of the BWAI Board of Directors, we maintain a clear separation between his roles to prevent any undue influence. All decisions involving funding from Commonland are subject to scrutiny by the entire board, with Pieter recusing himself from any discussions or votes where a conflict of interest may arise. Additionally, other directors or Commonland staff are included in important decisions and relevant correspondence, ensuring alignment with both BWAI’s and Commonland’s governance protocols. This approach reflects our commitment to democratic, equitable, and transparent governance, as outlined in our constitution
Our Place
Why this area of Ireland?
South East Ireland is a region where landscape and seascapes would have traditionally supported local communities to thrive in harmony with the ecological potential to support them. The current situation is, however, more characterised by export of milk powder and meat produced by intensive farming and extractive business practices – taking from the land, the soils and the local economy. While this generates much financial wealth for Ireland’s GDP it is unsustainable – a vision of large, industrialized farms with isolated farmers, poor soil and water quality and struggling rural communities is not the future picture of Ireland anyone wants. Nor does it contribute to wider national, European or global goals for planet or people.
In SE Ireland, there are some outstandingly beautiful beaches and mountain trails but these are limited to a few strips of the wider landscape, and it is otherwise hard to come out into nature. If you are not a farmer yourself.
Biodiversity, water quality and soil health are critical issues, as well as human health – mental and physical.
This area of Ireland appears to not be particularly abundant in initiatives addressing regenerative and holistic approaches to landscape/seascape scale change, less so than other regions of Ireland – some wonderful initiatives excepted! We hope the BWL can contribute to bringing a powerful new movement for change together for this special area of Ireland.
Where is the bioregion?
We have defined a core focus area based on layering maps of river catchments, geology, soils, and social/cultural context. It is an area where relationships can be built and collaboration can easily accomplished. The connecting landscape that emerges from this mapping covers all of Co. Waterford and some of each neighbouring county – as well as the sea to the south and all rivers and lakes.
We currently refer to this as the South East Ireland Bioregion, but it may expand in the future as relationships shift and people want to be part of it.
This way of connecting with the land and its communities means that the core area of BWL’s work does not cover all of of what might be referred to SE Ireland in other contexts that use county boundaries in their definitions (for instance the Slaney River catchment in Wexford and Wicklow is not included for now).
See the ‘bioregional mapping project’ on our Support Platform Page for more information
Our Story, So Far
Foundation
In 2019, Ashoka Fellow Mick Kelly, CEO of the social enterprise GIY (Grow It Yourself) in Waterford, was at the inaugural meeting convened by Commonland, Ashoka and The Precensing Institute, to consider how we might accelerate positive eco-sociological change around Europe. From this, an ambition rose to support the emergence of Bioregional Weaving Labs in ten different European countries.
Growth
The BWL initiative in Ireland took off in 2022, hosted by GIY and led by Sarah Prosser who, thanks to core funding from Commonland, was employed in a ‘weaver’ position to see if this kind of approach might add value to the established context of County Waterford and surrounding areas.
Independence
In 2024, it was recognised that BWL SE Ireland had grown outside of the core mission of GIY and that it could operate more effectively with an independent governance structure. The Bioregional Weaving Alliance Ireland was established as a non-profit Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG).