The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced an extension to the closing date of a €25 million call for proposals for a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on the theme of breeding waders.
The call will now close at 5:00p.m on Tuesday, January 30. The previous closing date had been January 23.
Ministers of state Pippa Hackett and Malcolm Noonan launched the call last week for proposals for the EIP to conserve breeding waders.
There will also be a further €5 million made available to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to implement strategic conservation measures for the birds such as nest protection fences.
Populations of breeding waders, which include curlew, dunlin, lapwing, and golden plover, among others, have declined by as much as 98% in recent decades across Ireland, according to the department.
The objectives of this EIP project, the first under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan, will be to secure existing wader populations at key sites and to support population recovery via landscape management and policy development.
All populations are in unfavourable conservation status, and some are threatened with national extinction as breeding birds, according the department.
The EIP initiative involves a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisors, researchers, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), coming together in local “operational groups” to trial conservation solutions.
Both the NPWS and the department will fund agri-environmental actions, while the NPWS will also cover the operational group’s administrative costs.
This EIP proposes to continue, expand and build on conservation efforts to date, and to support integration with existing efforts, such as those in the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
Commenting on the EIP last week, Minister Hackett said that it will “play a significant role” in helping to reverse the decline in breeding wader populations.
“We have used the EIP model over the past number of years to help bring farmers and other stakeholders together in local and regional groups, backed up with the financial and administrative support they need.
“It is essential that we work with and alongside farmers to ensure these birds can thrive again at key sites,” Minister Hackett added.