I mused last week about whether the public appetite for nature conservation had suffered during the economic crisis. So, it was wonderfully reassuring to hear at the weekend that Defra had received 76 applications for funding of landscape scale conservation initiatives - so-called Nature Improvement Areas . The applicants are all vying for the £7.5 million that Defra made available to support twelve projects. The funds for are designed to help bring communities together to manage their local landscapes for the benefit of both wildlife and people.
The news was shared by Professor Sir John Lawton at the RSPB's AGM where he deservedly received his RSPB medal for services to wildlife conservation. John himself is chairing the panel that has been set up to determine who receives the funds.
Under the terms of the competition, only 12 bids will be successful. This means that 64 groups will be left disappointed. The RSPB contributed to a number of bids working with a range of partners including water companies, the NFU, the Wildlife Trusts and others. We know that not all of our projects can be successful but we have our fingers crossed that some of these partnership projects will win through.
But, rather than speculating on the winners and losers, perhaps we should simply delight at the fact that so many local communities have agreed to come together to try to fix nature on their doorsteps.
Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne should pay attention here. Even in these difficult economic times, real people living in real communities want to work together to make a difference.
This begs the question - if Eric Pickles can find £250 million behind his sofa to help pay for weekly bin collections, can Mrs Spelman find a little more cash to add to the £7.5million currently allocated to putting wildlife back into landscapes across England? This would help give more communities an opportunity to bring their projects to life.
Whatever is offered can only be seed money. We know that. This is why, we are doing our bit by securing money from other sources. After being launched last year the RSPB’s Futurescapes programme is set to step up in its scope having secured £2million of funding from the EU’s Life+ Programme. This will be matched by another £2million from RSPB’s members and will pay for seven new staff - a positive early step on the long road to delivering on the ambitions for this programme
We are currently recruiting seven new Futurescapes managers who will be employed across the UK with one each in Northern Ireland and Wales, two in Scotland and three in England. We’re looking for seven people who can sell this fantastic idea to farmers, councillors, landowners, water companies and everyone else who helps shape our towns and countryside.
So, if you care about nature, have big ambitions and want to do something about it – why not take a moment to read about these new vacancies at the RSPB.
Who knows, maybe in a few months time there will be more opportunities for more people to work with their local communities for nature. But, that is out of our hands – it is now up to Professor Sir John Lawton and the wise people on the NIA panel to decide.