The UK government has announced £25 million in funding towards 20 projects aimed at protecting and restoring wildlife habitats across a total area equivalent to the size of York.
The projects seek to restore a wide range of ecosystems spanning 3,300 hectares, including grasslands, wetlands, woodlands, saltmarsh, hedgerows, and heathlands.
They aim to benefit thousands of species such as iconic lapwings, water voles, and dragonflies, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a press release on Friday.
As a part of the Species Survival Fund, the allocation – delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund on behalf of Defra – is expected to help achieve the government’s targets to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030, as set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets.
“The funding … will enable local authorities, landowners, farmers, and our protected landscapes organisations to restore nature at scale and provide valuable green jobs in the process,” the environment minister, Rebecca Pow, stated.
“Only by creating bigger and better habitats for wildlife will we be able to halt the alarming decline in species loss.”
Recipients of funds include the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, which has been granted £1.7 mln to restore chalk rivers and create 49 ha of wetland habitat across Hertfordshire.
The initiative aims to protect critical habitats that can help mitigate the impacts of climate change by providing natural flood management.
It will also help stop the decline of over 109 species, including water voles, considered the UK’s ‘fastest declining mammal’, which have lost 95% of its range over the last hundred years.
An amount of £1.5 mln has been allocated to support a partnership in the North Wessex Downs Area of National Landscape, an initiative that aims to restore “over 3 kilometres of chalk stream habitat, enhance wet woodlands, and improve chalk grasslands”.
Groundwork Greater Manchester, a federation of independent charities, has been awarded £1.1 mln to create a nature corridor across the Medlock Valley and restore habitats vital for species such as willow tit, waxcaps, and rare great crested newts.
On Tuesday, Defra’s Projects for Nature platform announced a partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, with the British financial services group allocating £250,000 (€290,000) towards three restoration programmes in England.
The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) and the Biodiversity Net Gain scheme are among the other initiatives the government launched to halt biodiversity loss in the country.
By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com
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