Management planning, monitoring, auditing of management and land acquisition for SPAs in Ireland

Objective

Focusing on a subset of 63 SPAs this project has two main objectives: for 30 coastal and estuarine SPAs, the project will - in close cooperation with other relevant governmental agencies and the principal interest groups - develop and implement a zonation system designed to protect the bird interest of the site. Based on an evaluation of bird usage and habitat conditions within each site, the plan will demarcate areas where aquaculture and other land use activities should be allowed to continue or even expand and where their impacts are so great that they should be regulated or stopped. Once established, these zonation maps will be enforced by all statutory bodies concerned.

For 33 other complex SPAs management plans will be established in order to determine the conservation actions required to maintain and enhance the value of the site for the birds for which it was designated. Once established the plans will be implemented. Actions co-financed under this project will essentially involve land purchase as well as biotope management (eg water regime regulation, dyke building, drain blocking etc).

Ireland has, in recent years, made significant progress in classifying Special Protection Areas under the Birds Directive. There are now 106 declared SPAs covering over 2000 km{2} and a wide range of different habitats from remote cliff tops to wet meadows, peat bogs and estuaries. Some of these sites are large and often very complex, not just in terms of their conservation value but also because of the many and varied interest groups who benefit in one form or another from the use of their natural resources.

Estuaries, in particular, are commercially important for such activities as aquaculture and the harvesting of marine produce. For these sites, it is essential to know enough about their biological interactions to be able to determine the circumstances under which such commercial activities can continue without detriment to the conservation of the birds for which the sites were classified SPA.

Programme(s)

ENV-LIFE 2 - Financial instrument for the environment (LIFE), 1996-1999

Topic(s)

Data not available

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

The Office of Public Works

EU contribution

No data

Address

St Stephens' Green
2 Dublin
Ireland

Total cost