£15m available to help farmers enhance the landscape
© Tim Scrivener The second round of the Landscape Recovery scheme is now open for applications in England.
It will provide funding for farmers and landowners to create new habitats for wildlife, help protected sites and mitigate climate change.
The scheme is part of Defra’s post-Brexit Environmental Land Management scheme, which also includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship.
See also: How upland farmers are pooling resources to plug funding gap
The first round of Landscape Recovery was launched last year, with 22 projects selected, focusing on restoring native species, improving water quality and enhancing biodiversity.
Under this second round, farmers will be able to bid for a share of £15m initial development funding, available for projects of at least 500ha.
Up to 25 new projects will be funded this year, selected for their environmental and social impact, value for money, and suitability for the scheme.
They will be administered by Natural England and the Environment Agency, and could include woodland creation, peatland restoration, nature reserves and protection of wetlands.
For the first time, new food production criterion will be used to ensure prospective projects take food production into consideration, “to mitigate any negative impacts on this where possible”.
Farmers will also be encouraged to collaborate on landscape scale projects.
Natural England chairman Tony Juniper said that agriculture has a huge role to play in nature recovery, “ensuring that a thriving natural world is at the heart of sustainable food production”.
He said: “Landscape Recovery encourages farmers and land managers to transform nature at a landscape scale, and Natural England will use its advice and relationships to support them every step of the way.”