2026 marks the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IVY 2026), proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly.
It celebrates the quiet, determined work of volunteers: people who give their time, energy and care to create a better world.
As part of the International Year, Ballymun-based charity GAP Ireland is putting volunteers in the spotlight, highlighting how their work in community gardens is driving real climate action and building stronger, greener communities across Dublin.
Our GLAS community gardens are thriving because of the incredible volunteers who give their time, energy and care, and thanks to the vital support of local authorities,” said Hans Zomer, CEO of GAP Ireland.
“At our community gardens in Ballymun and Corduff, volunteers are turning what were once abandoned pieces of land into small urban oases, where people are coming together for climate action, connection and learning. Together, they are growing food, restoring nature and building stronger, more resilient communities. These gardens show that sustainable development starts at the local level.”
Volunteering as climate action
The UN International Volunteer Year 2026 reminds us that volunteering is essential. In the GLAS community gardens, people find a space to rediscover their connection with nature and with other people.
Volunteering in community gardens benefits the community as well as the volunteer, but is also a way to break what GAP Ireland terms “the spiral of inaction”. Each small action is important in and of itself, but also because it creates visible, tangible change that inspires others to act.
By making our climate actions public and shared, volunteers ‘do good louder,’ turning individual effort into collective climate impact and strengthening community resilience.
“The GLAS community gardens show what can happen when communities and local authorities work together. Fingal County Council and Dublin City Council are strong supporters of our GLAS community garden project, and are also enablers of the social regeneration, growing resilience and practical climate action that is possible because of these community spaces,” concluded GAP CEO Zomer.
“The GLAS community gardens are where volunteering grows climate action, connection and hope.”
