Arge cyanocrocea (credit: wildlife news)
The race to win funds for the 12 new Nature Improvement Areas (NIA) announced in the Natural Environment White Paper has begun. Aimed at pilot projects covering areas between 10,000 and 50,000 hectares in size the new NIAs is being backed with £7.5 million of public funding.
The landscape level programme is aimed at getting groups of landowners and communities together to develop a widespread plan for wildlife in their area. Recommendations from the local communities will play a role in deciding where these projects will take place.
Bids open for Nature Improvement Areas.
Bids for the funds can now be put together and submitted with the successful plans being announced and funded from 2012. The funding will be in place for 3 years. While the total funding for the NIA has been set there is no limit to the amount that individual projects can apply for.
The opening of the new NIA scheme has come at the same time as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced the opening of acceptance of Expressions of Interests for Biodiversity Offsetting which was also announced in the White Paper.
New landscape scale wildlife conservation for England.
Speaking of the new NIA’s, the Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon, said “This is the first step in making our Natural Environment White Paper commitments a reality. At a time when the country’s economy needs to grow, Defra is finding innovative new ways to protect and enhance our wildlife without standing in the way of much-needed development.”
The programme – which will be restricted to projects located in England – is being overseen by a panel who will judge the effectiveness of each project submitted. The panel is being chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton. He has high hopes for the programme and described it as, “Nature Improvement Areas provide one of the best opportunities in years to turn around the declines we are seeing in the natural world around us. They will help transform parts of our countryside and towns, creating large areas that are great for wildlife and great for people.”
Helen Philips, Chief Executive of Natural England, the organisation who is administering the scheme, said “Nature Improvement Areas present a tremendous opportunity to benefit people and wildlife. We look forward to a range of projects that will untap the potential for local communities, the private sector, the voluntary sector and government to work together in make a lasting difference to landscapes across the country”
Aims of NIAs.
The new NIAs will be large but discreet areas that can be managed to the benefit of the ecosystems. The landscape scale management will see local landowners, organisations and communities working together to enhances their local environment.
Some of the aims of the NIAs is to connect up important wildlife habitats with green corridors or stepping stones – little patchworks of habitat – and where necessary expansion of established protected wildlife habitats.
New wildlife sites and buffer zones can also be part of the new Nature Improvement Areas and successful projects will need to show how they will integrate surrounding areas into the scheme. Hedgerows, meadows and ponds are all things that the government hopes will be created.
The new scheme is not targeted purely at the rural areas, urban environments can also be taken into the individual projects. DEFRA hopes that some projects will see innovative new programmes in towns and cities. Apart from extra trees for streets and parks they hope the new funding will encourage the establishment of pocket gardens to benefit wildlife and the establishment of green roofs which will provide urban habitat for birds and insects.
Community involvement an important part of Nature Improvement Areas.
The NIA programme is only open to partnerships and consortia. Individuals and sole organisation projects will not be eligible for the scheme. Community involvement will be an important part of the assessment of any project to ensure that they are sustainable and will continue after the initial 3 year funding period.
External links:
Natural England: Guidence notes on NIAs (pdf).
