The €20.6 million LIFE Integrated Project (IP) Wild Atlantic Nature project was officially launched today in Ballycroy, Co. Mayo by Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett.
LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature has successfully launched a pilot Results-Based agri-environment Payment Scheme (RBPS) in the Owenduff/Nephin Complex SAC for 2021, and will expand to Donegal, Sligo and other parts of Mayo in 2022. The RBPS directly links farmer payments to the environmental quality of the farm. This approach incentivises and rewards restoration and conservation of high-quality habitats and puts farmers and their skills, expertise and knowledge of their land central to the development of the initiative. Minister Hackett commented:
“LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature is a fantastic project driven by the local community and delivering results for nature and biodiversity. The results based element is very important because it supports farmers to really engage and deliver for their local ecosystem. I was delighted to be in my home county of Mayo today with my colleague Minister Noonan at the start of Biodiversity Week to see real community effort on biodiversity first hand.”
Further Information here.
