Image credit: Andrew Downes
The Breeding Waders EIP (European Innovation Partnership) has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Environmental Protection category of the EU CAP Network’s Agricultural and Rural Inspiration Awards (ARIA) 2026. Selected from 128 entries across Europe, this Irish initiative, nominated by CAP Network Ireland, is one of just 24 projects to make the final shortlist.
Organised annually by the EU CAP Network, ARIA celebrates inspiring projects shaping the future of rural Europe through support from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The awards showcase the greenest, smartest, most socially inclusive, innovative and resilient CAP-funded projects making a positive impact at local level. The 2026 edition also places a particular focus on gender equality, highlighting initiatives that support women's participation and leadership in agriculture and rural communities.
Co-funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Breeding Waders EIP aims to halt the decline of Ireland’s breeding wader populations, which include species such as the Curlew, Lapwing and Snipe. Since the 1970s Ireland’s breeding wader populations have suffered precipitous declines in population size and breeding range rendering remaining populations on the brink of extirpation, functional extinction or both. This EIP supports their recovery through habitat restoration, sustainable land management, innovative conservation and research. Working with farmers, researchers, conservation organisations and rural communities, the initiative is improving habitats for threatened species, and demonstrating the important role farmland can play in protecting biodiversity.
Several significant milestones have been achieved, including Ireland’s first Dunlin Headstarting Programme, only the second successful initiative of its kind globally, and an international first in sourcing Eurasian Curlew eggs from the UK to support Ireland’s breeding population. Other innovations include Ireland’s first GPS-tagging programme for Curlew fledglings, an accredited training programme for Nest Protection Officers, the appointment of Ireland’s first female Nest Protection Officers, and the launch of the country’s first citizen-science-led American Mink eradication pilot programme.
Image credit: Andrew Downes
Led by Irish Rural Link, the Breeding Waders EIP is supported by a diverse partnership comprising Irish Wildlife Services, Michael Martyn Agri-Environment, Atlantic Technological University, University College Dublin, Dublin Zoo, the Centre for Species Survival and Fota Wildlife Park. Collectively, these organisations contribute expertise in conservation, research, monitoring, policy development, predation management, community engagement and headstarting programmes, supporting a coordinated national approach to breeding wader conservation.
A short video showcasing the Breeding Waders EIP is available on the EU CAP Network YouTube channel.
Please show your support for this Irish project by casting your vote on the EU CAP Network website before 5pm on Tuesday, 1 December 2026.
Image credit: Andrew Downes
For more information on CAP Network Ireland and its work supporting, connecting and engaging with Ireland’s rural and agricultural communities, visit the project's website.