The Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan has announced the approval by the European Commission of a new EU LIFE project.
With a total budget of €7.4 million (of which €5.7 million is EU LIFE programme funding) the project – ‘LIFE on Machair’ – seeks to improve the conservation condition of Ireland’s machair habitats and the ecological conditions for the species it supports by working positively with local farming communities.
Machair is a coastal habitat characterised by a plain of lime-rich, wind-blown sand that is unique to the north and west of Ireland and Scotland.
The typical flower-rich vegetation of machair is traditionally maintained through low-intensity livestock grazing, but is susceptible to pressures from recreational activities and overgrazing.
Machair ecosystems provide an important refuge for pollinators and threatened breeding wader bird species, such as dunlin, lapwing and redshank.
Post-Brexit, the entire EU land cover of the habitat occurs in Ireland, meaning the conservation of machair in Ireland is of significance on a European scale.
Farmers ‘central’ to machair habitats project
Farming and farmers are central to the project in the role that they can play in protecting and restoring machair systems.
Working with project partners the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Teagasc and Fáilte Ireland, the LIFE on Machair project will seek to build on the successes of locally-adapted programmes, including European Innovation Partnerships (EIP), in assisting farmers and other stakeholders to create resilience within rural communities in the light of the biodiversity and climate crises.
It will focus on nine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and 4 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in counties Donegal, Mayo and Galway.
A voluntary results-based payment scheme (RBPS) will be linked to the quality of the habitat, putting the landowner, their skills, expertise and knowledge of their land central to the development of this project.
Commenting on the announcement, Minister Noonan said that the award of this funding is “a very positive development in addressing the urgent need for conservation and restoration of biodiversity in our coastal areas”.
“I am hopeful that this project will help conserve Ireland’s unique machair systems whilst also supporting coastal rural communities, providing employment opportunities and an important financial injection,” the minister added.