Financial incentives for the protection and enhancement of the natural environment.
The Nature Improvement Areas (NIAs) Programme with funding of £7.5 million has been established as announced in the Natural Environment White Paper
(2011).
Nature Improvement Areas are places where a shared vision for the development of the natural environment exists among a wide partnership of local people, including statutory and voluntary sectors. Where real improvements to the local environment can be achieved over large areas by enlarging and enhancing existing wildlife sites, improving ecological connectivity and creating new sites.
For more information, see Nature Improvement Areas.
The Defra fund for biodiversity recording in the voluntary sector supports the voluntary sector’s role in engaging with the natural environment and contributing to our understanding of its state and trends. The fund is administered by Natural England and consists of four main projects with a combined budget of £398,000 from 2011-14.
The first three projects, covering structured surveillance (project 1), developing skills and capacity in the recording sector (project 2) and improvements to record verification (project 3), have already been out to tender and are due to complete in March 2014.
Closed to new applicants:
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