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Galway County’s Partner Forest Program
In February 2023, Galway County Council (GCC) and the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) signed an MOU to formally initiate a multifaceted Partner Forest program in Galway, Ireland. The goal of the Galway Partner Forest program is to create a robust green and sustainable wood procurement policy that is supported by physical examples that embody the policy’s sustainability criteria.
In order to do this, the program incorporates two equally important components.
Sustainable Wood Procurement Innovation
As of July 2025, Ireland made Green Public Procurement (GPP) a binding requirement for all public sector bodies. This mandate was known at the onset of the project, and prompted Galway County Council (GCC) to work with Cities4Forests, Atlantic Technological University, and Greenville Procurement Partners, to co-create a green and sustainable purchasing policy for wood in furniture and construction. This policy, mentioned in Galway County's Local Authority Climate Action Plan 2024 - 2029, is an integral part of the program and will build long-term opportunities for future collaboration and development. It will promote mutually beneficial relationships between local governments and faraway forests to help promote knowledge of the sustainable consumption of forest products, protect biodiversity, restore global climate health and support forest communities' livelihoods and wellbeing.
Working with Sustainable Forestry in Brazil and Guatemala
Through the Cities4Forests initiative, Pilot Projects, and the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) delivered a sustainable tropical wood skills project with conservation timber from the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The project launched in September 2023, which allowed students to produce unique public infrastructure projects for the GCC consideration for broader spatial plans including Galway’s Sustainable Mobility and Transportation initiatives.
A small group from ATU visited Uaxactún and Carmelita, Guatemala at the end of May 2024. This group included students who excelled in the Connecting Communities Design Competition, and were awarded a week-long expedition led by community representatives to learn more about sustainable tropical forestry.
ATU students were tasked with designing and building public furniture using conservation timber from a sustainably managed tropical forest concession
A number of the benches were selected by Galway County Council to be exhibited around the town of Clifden
Galway County Council also selected two additional student projects to exhibit in the county hall during the summer of 2024