Coordinator for Wild Atlantic Nature LIFE IP Results-based Payment Scheme

Tender description

The Wild Atlantic Nature LIFE IP seeks to improve Ireland's performance in conserving habitats and in particular to improve the conservation status in the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Network of blanket bog, a priority habitat under the Habitats Directive. The project will also work towards raising awareness of the Natura 2000 network, comprising the network of SACs and SPAs (Special Protection Areas for birds) throughout the EU. The primary focus is on 24 blanket bog SACs in the northwest of Ireland. Several of these are also SPAs. The primary driver behind the deterioration of Ireland’s blanket bog SAC is pressure from land uses including agriculture and forestry. Damaging activities on the ground are diverse and include inappropriate grazing regimes, drainage, and peat extraction. These activities arise as a result of divergent messages from our broader agriculture, nature, water and climate policies. Associated with each of these polices are a wide range of actors responsible for their implementation. Although interaction between these actors is improving, within a fully coherent land use framework, meeting individual targets for nature (particularly the PAF), water or climate targets will be increasingly challenging. To address this, the Wild Atlantic Nature LIFE IP aims to develop and demonstrate an integrated landuse framework that aligns the implementation of land use policy in its target areas. Two threads will be used to achieve policy alignment, a RBPS and the development of a landscape-scale scoring system. The outcome of this approach will provide a market for the wide range of ecosystem services provided from our Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) Network. Habitat quality, scored on a scale of 0 to 10, will be used as a surrogate for the quality of ecosystem services of biodiversity, water quality and carbon sequestration and storage. It is hoped that this will become the basis of landuse policy for these geographical areas.