More than £500K announced for natural capital projects - NatureScot
Seven pioneering private investment projects to restore nature and improve opportunities for people to access and enjoy it, while mitigating and adapting to climate change, have been awarded Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (IRNS) funding.
Grants of £580,166 will go to projects for work ranging from exploring urban flood management in Glasgow; looking at the science and funding opportunities behind measuring and increasing biodiversity at Glencripesdale temperate rainforest; setting up a landscape-scale but locally-led initiative to help restore peat bogs across the Flow Country in Sutherland; combatting grazing pressure, invasive non-native species, climate change and water quality in Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park; restoring peatland to help reduce carbon emissions around Moss of Cree in southwest of Scotland; and creating a natural capital laboratory at Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.
The new grant scheme is a joint initiative led by NatureScot, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and National Lottery Heritage Fund, and encourages organisations and partnerships to develop projects which use private investment and market-based mechanisms to help restore the natural environment in Scotland.
The Green Finance Institute estimates that between £15 billion and £27 billion, in addition to current public funding, is needed over the next 10 years to restore nature across Scotland. Much of this will have to come from the private sector.
Announcing the successful IRNS projects today, Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform, Mairi McAllan said: “The right kind of investment in our land and seas is urgently required. We need to make Scotland the best place to invest in natural capital to deliver our social, environmental and economic policy objectives.”
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Posted On: 01/11/2022