Ministers of State Pippa Hackett and Malcolm Noonan have today (Tuesday, December 12) launched a call for proposals for a €25 million European Innovation Partnership (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.
The key 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 wider landscape management and policy development.
Breeding waders
The EIP initiative involves a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisors, researchers, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), coming together in locally-led “operational groups” to trial innovative conservation solutions.
The project will be co-funded by the European Commission and the Irish government, with €17.5 million coming via the NPWS and €7.5 million made available through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Both the NPWS and DAFM 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 innovative integration with existing efforts, such as those in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The closing date for this call for proposals is 5:00p.m on January 23, 2024.
EIP
Minister of State at DAFM, Pippa Hackett, said that the EIP will “play a significant role” in helping to reverse the severe 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, and I am delighted we can now bring forward an EIP of this scale to help save some of our most endangered birds.
“It is essential that we work with and alongside farmers to ensure these birds can thrive again at key sites.
“Collaboration and buy-in at a local level are key to addressing some of our most challenging conservation concerns,” the minister said.
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan added that the Curlew Conservation Programme, delivered by NPWS and DAFM, has shown how collaboration at local level can address some of “the most challenging conservation concerns”.
Under the previous CAP there were 57 EIPs ranging across climate, biodiversity, water, farm safety, animal welfare and archaeology.
Some notable projects to date have included the BRIDE project, Danú, Pearl Mussel Project and Hen Harrier Project.