EDITED BY EILEEN O’ROURKE & JOHN A. FINN Agricultural habitats cover approximately half the European Union (EU) and an estimated 50% of all species and several habitats of conservation concern in the EU depend on agricultural management. Reversing the loss of European biodiversity is clearly dependent on the conservation of farmland biodiversity. EDITED BY EILEEN O’ROURKE & JOHN A. FINN CONTRIBUTORS Andy Bleasdale ● Amanda Browne ● Dolores Byrne Padraig Cronin ● Brendan Dunford ● John A. Finn Kathryn Finney ● Caitriona Maher ● Patrick McGurn James Moran ● Derek McLoughlin ● Gráinne Ní Chonghaile Richard O’Callaghan ● Barry O’Donoghue Eileen O’Rourke ● Sharon Parr ● Paul Phelan First published in 2020 by Teagasc and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) CONTENTS Teagasc Johnstown Castle, Wexford, Y35 TC97, Ireland Contributors 7 www.teagasc.ie Glossary 11 National Parks & Wildlife Service 1 Farming for Nature: Result-based Agri-Environment Schemes 12 90 North King Street, Smithfield, Dublin 7, D07 N7CV, Ireland Eileen O’Rourke and John A. Finn www.npws.ie 2 Overview of European Agri-Environment measures © The authors and contributors, 2020 with emphasis on a Result-based Approach 24 Eileen O’Rourke ISBN 978-1-84170-663-4 3 Farming for Conservation in the Burren 56 Brendan Dunford and Sharon Parr British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data An entry can be found on request 4 Farming for Conservation on the Aran Islands 106 Patrick McGurn, Amanda Browne, Gráinne Ní Chonghaile Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data An entry can be found on request 5 The KerryLIFE freshwater pearl mussel conservation project 148 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved Richard O’Callaghan, Padraig Cronin and Paul Phelan alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any 6 The Results-based Agri-Environment Payment Scheme (RBAPS) Pilot in Ireland 184 means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) Dolores Byrne, Derek McLoughlin, Caitriona Maher, Kathryn Finney without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. 7 The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Farm Plan Scheme 214 Design and setting: edit+ www.stuartcoughlan.com Andy Bleasdale and Barry O’Donoghue Cover design: edit+ www.stuartcoughlan.com Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro 8 Policy Environment: Ecosystem services and the role of Results-based Printed in Ireland by Think Print & Design Payment Schemes (RBPS) in integrated approach to agricultural land use 250 James Moran 9 Synthesis and reflections on selected results-based approaches in Ireland 274 John A. Finn Acknowledgements 304 Reversing CONTRIBUTORS the loss of Andy Bleasdale: Andy works in the marsh fritillary habitat. She is a technical Scientific Unit of the National Parks and scientific advisor to the Freshwater Pearl Wildlife Service and has a particular Mussel EIP and a member of the Inishowen interest in the potential of farming to Farmers EIP Operational Group, both enhance biodiversity in an Irish setting. of which are exploring the potential for European He has had an active involvement in the results-based agri-environmental schemes commonage framework planning process, within upland areas. She is part of the the NPWS farm plan scheme, BurrenLIFE group of researchers in GMIT and IT Sligo and successor programmes, AranLIFE, currently working on agroecology, results- RBAPS and INTERREG VA and he is an based approaches and high nature value biodiversity advocate of results-based approaches to farming systems and their interactions incentivise farmers and to improve the with the environment and community in status of habitats and species. which they sit. Amanda Browne was the Scientific and Padraig Cronin is an agricultural and is clearly Technical Officer with the AranLIFE project environmental specialist who graduated since 2014 and is currently the Scientific from the University of Wales Aberystwyth. and Technical Officer of Caomhnú Árann He has worked on many conservation EIP. She is primarily responsible for projects throughout the last 20 years with developing the monitoring programme for a specialisation in the development and dependent assessing the effectiveness of the concrete demonstration of sustainable land use actions of the project in improving the management techniques and practices. He conservation status of the priority habitats. worked as farm advisor on the KerryLIFE Prior to working on AranLIFE, Amanda was Project 2014-2019 and is now the Project a Consultant Ecologist. Officer on the Hen Harrier Project for the on the south west region. Dolores Byrne is a lecturer in the Institute of Technology, Sligo. She was the project Brendan Dunford: From a farming ecologist on the Results-Based Agri- background in Co. Waterford, Brendan environment Payment Scheme project, has spent the past 20 years living and conservation based in County Leitrim where her work working in the Burren region. In 2001 he involved developing and testing the scoring completed his doctorate on The impact assessments for species-rich grassland and of Agricultural Practices on the Natural of farmland CONTRIBUTORS 7 Heritage of the Burren, later published by management and predator control. In from Queen’s University Belfast, he went Derek McLoughlin is currently assistant Teagasc as ‘Farming and the Burren’. He led addition to designing nationally adopted on to work in the agriculture advisory project manager on the Pearl Mussel the award-winning BurrenLIFE Project and breeding wader schemes, she also worked services for Department of Agriculture in Project EIP, a €10M results-based project now manages its successor, the pioneering on the RBAPS Pilot project to develop Northern Ireland. Working with farmers funded by the Department Agriculture ‘Burren Programme’. He is co-founder and trial results-based schemes. She has within a HNV area in Fermanagh, led to an Food and the Marine. This project and secretary of the Burrenbeo Trust, a experience in predator proof fence design interest in semi-natural grasslands and he uses many of the principles developed landscape charity dedicated to ‘Connecting and habitat restoration for breeding went on to complete a PhD on species rich in the EU-funded Results Based Agri- all of us to our places and our role in caring waders. A graduate of Aberdeen University, grasslands in Fermanagh. He then went on environment Payment Scheme (RBAPS) for them’ through a range of place-based she holds an MA degree in Countryside to work for the European Forum on Nature project in Ireland and Spain, on which learning and community stewardship and Environmental Management. Kathryn Conservation and Pastoralism, looking at Derek was project coordinator with the initiatives. Brendan is a former board believes passionately in working in co- HNV farming Systems in Ireland and along European Forum for Nature Conservation member of the Heritage Council and the operation with farmers to ensure a more with other stakeholders developed the and Pastoralism. He is based in Co. Mayo Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sustainable future for Ireland’s biodiversity. EU LIFE application to address issues on and has worked in a number of research Advisory Committee, a former Director designated farmland on the Aran Islands. and consulting capacities in High Nature of the European Forum on Nature Value landscape since 1999, including Conservation and Pastoralism, and is an Caitriona Maher did her PhD on the effects ecological monitoring of Ireland’s current Ashoka Fellow. of farming practices and flood variables James Moran is a lecturer in Ecology agri-environment scheme – Green, on the plant communities and insect and Biology at Galway Mayo Institute Low-carbon, Agri-environment Scheme assemblages of the Shannon Callows of Technology teaching on agriculture (GLAS). John A. Finn is an ecologist with Teagasc. flood meadows in Ireland. Following this and environment related programmes. He is a researcher on agricultural ecology Caitriona worked with the successful He leads the Agro-ecology and Rural and farmland wildlife, with a keen interest Burren Programme (2013-2015) before Development (ARD) research group at Gráinne Ní Chonghaile currently works as in the management of High Nature Value working with the European Forum for GMIT. His research and outreach work the Administration and Financial Officer farming systems. He has been a journal Nature Conservation and Pastoralism concentrates on sustainable agricultural of the Caomhnú Árann project, previously editor and project evaluator for several on the Results-Based Agri-environmental systems. Research areas include rural AranLIFE project. Having lived on the funding agencies, as well as project leader Payment Scheme, RBAPS project (2015- development; agri-environmental scheme island for the majority of her life and in EU and Irish research projects. He has 2018). Caitriona is now lecturing in ecology design; High Nature Value farmland; the fact that she is a fluent native Irish published multiple research articles, as and wildlife conservation in Liverpool John biodiversity and ecosystem services; speaker have allowed her to build a very well as several books and multiple popular Moores University, where she continues protected areas management; grazing good relationship with the participating articles for the farming community and her research in high-nature value