A NATURE fund that began just three years ago is celebrating local projects across the country coming together to create 1500 football fields-worth of new or improved habitats for pollinators, birds and wildflowers.
The Biodiversity Challenge Fund encouraged applicants with innovative projects that improve biodiversity and address the impact of climate change by increasing the resilience of the most at-risk habitats and species and creating large areas of new or restored habitat.
The fund has supported more than 40 large-scale projects with total funding of nearly £7 million. Since 2019, achievements to date by the fund’s successful applicants include nearly 600 hectares – 1500 football pitches-worth – of new or improved natural habitats were worked on, including 246 hectares of wildflower and species-rich habitats, 232 hectares of nesting habitats for Scotland’s vulnerable wading bird populations, and 110 hectares of wetland, as well as the creation of seven new ponds.
Applicants also planted more than 160,000 trees in and around areas such as montane habitats and riverbanks, bringing much-needed shade and nutrients and connecting and expanding vital habitats, while more than 60,000 seagrass seeds were planted in hessian bags and tethered to the seabed, as part of the seawilding community-led Seagrass Restoration Project in Loch Craignish.
And Scottish Canal’s creation of a home for fish, insects, amphibians, birds and mammals at Glasgow’s Pinkston Basin features a micro wilderness of more than 3600 aquatic plants.
The fund is being replaced by a multi-year package of at least £65m over the next five years. The new Nature Restoration Fund, launched in November last year, is set up through a Scottish Government fund following agreement with the Scottish Green Party.
Biodiversity Minister Lorna Slater said: “It is extremely gratifying to see the progress that has been made through the Biodiversity Challenge Fund, and I commend all those involved for their commitment and innovation through projects which are helping to restore and improve habitats and ecosystems.”
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