The Inagh EIP is designed to deliver a new approach to address the joint concerns of biodiversity and habitat loss and concurrently the loss of high ecological status water bodies in the Upper Inagh River Catchment by developing farming for nature and catchment sensitive farming and forestry practices. The overall aim is to demonstrate that biodiversity loss can be minimised, and site-specific mitigation measures can be implemented by farmers, scientists and advisors working together on a catchment scale.

The Inagh EIP formally started on the 1st September 2021 and will have a 12-month implementation please in the form a locally-led collaborative partnership, with farmers centrally involved in the co-design and implementation of an innovative suite of measures. The Inagh EIP consortium includes numerous stakeholders (local farmers; local forestry owners, the IFA, Clare County Council, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology, ASSAP and others) who have extensive expertise in managing and delivering collaborative projects focused on farming for conservation, biodiversity enhancement and ‘Woodlands For Water’ and forestry for nature type projects. The Inagh EIP will support local farmers, forestry owners and members of the local community to address the challenge of biodiversity loss and will work to enhance habitat connectivity in the Upper Inagh River catchment. The operational area of the Inagh EIP is located in the parishes of Kilmaley and Inagh in West Clare. The dominant agricultural activity is suckler and beef farming, together with forestry (consisting mainly of Sitka spruce plantations).