Project Page Views: [ 618 ]
| Project Metadata Element | Details |
| Project Title | High Status waterbodies: Managing and Optimising Nutrients |
| Research Area | EPA Climate Pillar: Socio-economic solutions and technologies |
| Project Acronym | HARMONY |
| Principal Investigator or Lead Irish Partner | Dr. Karen Daly, Teagasc |
| Lead Institution or Organisation | Teagasc |
| Lead Country | Ireland |
| Latitude, Longitude (of Lead Institution) | 52.36936126007901,-6.558837890625 |
| Lead Funding Entity | Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine |
| Approximate Project Start Date | 01/12/13 |
| Approximate Project Finishing Date | 30/11/17 |
| Project Website (if any) | |
| Links to other Web-based resources | |
| Project Keywords | nutrient management strategies, catchments, socio-economic tools |
| Project Abstract | The principal objectives of the WFD are to maintain ‘High’ and ‘Good’ water quality status where it exists and achieve at least ‘Good’ status for all waters by 2015, however, the EPA has noted a decline in the numbers of high status sites over the past twenty years. Most of these sites are located in upland areas, clustered along the western seaboard with a high proportion of peat soils in their catchments. Agriculture in these areas is typically extensive; however, poor management of nutrient on farms can cause a significant pressure in sensitive catchments. Farmers living in these areas require nutrient management strategies that take account of the soil and topographical constraints within the landscape. Furthermore, a strong participatory approach to nutrient management from the farming community is necessary if mitigation strategies are to be adopted and successful. This proposal will integrate agri-environmental research with socio-economic tools to provide evidence-based measures for nutrient management that are cost-effective and acceptable to the farming community in these catchments. This project will characterise the catchment characteristics and assess the current nutrient management practices in case-study catchments. New agronomic and hydrology research will address the nutrient efficiency and hydrological constraints on nutrient management in sensitive catchments. A list of potential measures will be proposed arising from the research, and a socio-economic evaluation of their cost-effectiveness and likelihood of adoption will be made across the farming community. |