The best green getaways to the fore: Ireland, Malaysia & more

Powerscourt Garden, Ireland

Powerscourt Garden in County Wicklow, Ireland recently got awarded with a title that named it the greenest garden on a worldwide chat. The Garden is part of Powerscout Estate, which is noted for its house and landscaped gardens, today occupying 19 hectares (47 acres). The house, originally a 13th-century castle, was extensively altered during the 18th century by German architect Richard Cassels, starting in 1731 and finishing in 1741. A fire in 1974 left the house lying as a shell until it was renovated in 1996.

Today the estate is owned and run by the Slazenger family. It is a popular tourist attraction, and includes a golf course, an Avoca Handweavers restaurant, and an Autograph Collection hotel.

Malaysia

Malaysia signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, and became a party to the convention on 24 June 1994. It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which was received by the convention in 1998.

The country is megadiverse with a high number of species and high levels of endemism.

It is estimated to contain 20 per cent of the world's animal species. High levels of endemism are found on the diverse forests of Borneo’s mountains, as species are isolated from each other by lowland forest.

About two thirds of Malaysia is covered in forest, with some forests believed to be 130 million years old.



Canary island of El Hierro

El Hierro, nicknamed Isla del Meridiano (the Meridian Island), is the smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands (an Autonomous Community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean. El Hierro has bagged the title of becoming the first island in the world to generate 100 per cent of its electricity from renewables by combining hydro and wind power to make the island totally self sufficient. The hydro-wind power project integrates a wind farm, a pump unit and a hydroelectric plant.

The wind farm is able to supply power directly to the network and simultaneously feed a group of pumping water into a higher reservoir tank. In the year 2000, El Hierro was designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, with 60 per cent of its territory protected to preserve its natural and cultural diversity.

Jamaica

From long sandy stretches to crystal clear water and secret coves, Jamaican beaches are where you start your holiday and make memories to last a lifetime. The biodiversity all around is amazing. Blue & John Crow Mountains National Park conserves about 78,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in the north-east of Jamaica. The region has been noted for having around 200 species of resident and migrant birds and is one of the largest migratory bird habitats in the Caribbean.

Rocklands Bird Sanctuary is a unique treat. The sanctuary visitors are given the opportunity to see and feed birds, in particular humming birds, by having them perch on their fingers.