Dr. Alex Copland - BirdLife International€¦ · Dr. Alex Copland. A background to rural Europe • Widespread loss of biodiversity • Loss of threatened habitats • Pressures

Rural Development Programming: Expereinces from Ireland

Dr. Alex Copland

A background to rural Europe

• Widespread loss of biodiversity

• Loss of threatened habitats

• Pressures on water quality andquantity

• Loss of ecosystem functioning

• AND struggling rural areas

Where is Ireland coming from?

Farmland Bird Declines:- 9/19 BoCCI Red-listed species- Range at least halved since 1970s

Loss of threatened habitats:

- Grasslands “unfavourable – bad”

- Peatlands “unfavourable - bad”

Viability of rural communities

- Changing farm structures

- Rural depopulation

Overview of farming in Ireland

• Pastoral (livestock) dominate

– 92% under grass (grazing and mown)

– 7.9% crops (of which 79% cereals)

• Agricultural structures (2013)

– Average farm size 32.5ha

– Average field size 2.5ha (variable)

– Winter Wheat yield 10.3 t/ha (2017)

Overview of Ireland's RDP

• Budget of c. €4 billion(€2.19 bn from EU)

– Agri-environment (€1.53bn):

– GLAS (c. €1.12bn)

– Beef Data Genomic Programme (€281m)

– Burren scheme (€12.9m)

– Areas of Natural Constraint (€1.37bn)

– Non-productive Investments (€425m)

– LEADER (€250m)

– Knowledge Transfer (€134m)

– Co-operation (€62m)

– Organics (€56m)

– Traditional buildings (€6m)

• Green Low-Carbon Agri-environmental Scheme

– National agri-environment scheme

– Prioritised entry according to Environmental Assets

– Suite of targeted (mandatory) and general (optional) measures

– Payment maximum of €5,000 (or €7,000) per applicant

• The Burren Programme

• Cooperation

– EIPs and locally-led schemes

Some more detail

Summary of GLAS actions

Action Minimum Maximum Completion deadlinePayment Rate

Planting New Hedgerow 10m 200m 31st March 2016 €5/m/y

Arable grass margin

• 3 metre width *All tillage crops harvested

in 2016

€0.35/m/yr

• 4 metre width * €0.50/m/yr

• 6 metre width * €0.70/m/yr

Bat Box 3 boxes 15 boxes 31st March 2016 €13/box/yr

Bird Box 1 box 15 boxes 31st March 2016 €6/box/yr

Conservation of Solitary Bees (Boxes) 1 box 5 boxes 31st March 2016 €6/box/yr

Conservation of Solitary Bees (Sand) 1 habitat 2 habitats 31st March 2016 €45/habitat/yr

• Breeding Waders * €366/ha/yr

• Chough * €365/ha/yr

• Corncrake * €364/ha/yr

• Geese and Swans * €205/ha/yr

• Grey Partridge 200m * 31st May 2016 €2.10/m/yr

• Hen Harrier * €370/ha/yr

• Twite A * €375/ha/yr

Twite B 50m * 31st May 2016 €1.50/m/yr

Twite C 0.25ha 3ha 31st May 2016 €900/ha/yr

Commonages Management Plan * €120/ha/yr

Farmland Habitat (Private Natura) * €79/ha/yr

Coppicing of Hedgerows 10m 1,000m 28th February 2017 €2.20/m/yr

Environmental Management of Fallow Land 0.25ha 3 ha 31st May 2016 €750/ha/yr

Catch Crop10 ha (Priority Area) / 4

ha (General Action)30 ha 15th September 2015 €155/ha/yr

Laying of Hedgerows 10m 1,000m 28th February 2017 €3.70/m/yr

Low Emission Slurry Spreading * €1.20/mᶟ/yr

Low Input Permanent Pasture /

Traditional Hay Meadow10 ha

€314/ha/yr and €315/ha/yr

Minimum Tillage10 ha (Priority Area) / 4

ha (General Action)*

1st crop establishment following approval

€40/ha/yr

Protection and Maintenance of Monuments

•Tillage•Grassland•3 metre width

•6 metre width•10 metre width

•30 metre width

1 20 31st May 2016 €146/unit/yr

1 20 28th February 2017 €120/unit/yr

* 31st December 2015 €1.50/m/yr

0.15 LU 10 LU €200/unit/yr

* 31st March 2016 €0.90/m/yr

* 31st March 2016 €1.20/m/yr

* 31st March 2016 €1.60/m/yr

* 31st March 2016 €3.60/m/yr

0.05ha / 250 whips 0.09 ha / 450 whips 31st March 2016 €0.90/whip/yr

10m 4,000m €0.70/m/yr

0.05ha /10 trees 0.05ha /10 trees 31st March 2016 €23.50/unit/yr

0.25ha (General Action)

1.0ha (Priority Action) 3 ha 31st May 2016 €900/ha/yr

• Opened 2015

• Three “tranches”

• Revision and targets refined between tranches

Scale of GLAS actions

Highlights:

• Wild Bird Cover 4th largest arable crop!

• 82,164ha priority bird habitats under (good) management

Action Scale Cost

Bird Boxes 203,801 €3.91m

Bat Boxes 209,019 €1.84m

Wild Bird Cover 19,037 ha €25.8m

Breeding waders 1,277 ha €0.60m

Curlew 4,551 ha €1.52m

Chough 12,338 ha €5.10m

Corncrake 214 ha €0.10m

Geese/Swans 16,083 ha €4.58m

Grey Partridge 134.6 km €0.39m

Hen Harrier 44,103 ha €24.0m

Twite 3,738 ha €2.00m

Planting hedges 1,201km €10.8m

Low-input pasture 262,479 ha €132m

Hay meadows 61,620 ha €28.2m

So, is the Irish RDP any good for biodiversity?

• Potentially, but that are pit-falls

• Advisory input – acknowledged deficit in areas such as biodiversity – needs to be enhanced

• Monitoring – limited to CMEF and €1.4m evaluation project (ongoing) – needs measure-by-measure refinement

• Link to non-productive investments

• Results-based options

• Continue to consult and engage

“Thank You!”