Funding to help protect iconic red squirrels
NatureScot has awarded grants totalling £9.2 million to projects that will help save red squirrels, revive fragmented rainforests, restore rivers and build climate resilience.
More than 300 projects have been supported through the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund competitive scheme, managed by NatureScot, since its launch in 2021.
Now a further 44 priority projects are being funded to take actions that will help tackle nature loss and climate change.
Among the recipients in the latest round of awards, the Scottish Wildlife Trust has been granted more than £1.5 million to fund another two years of its successful Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels programme.
While 80 per cent of the UK’s red squirrel population lives in Scotland, their numbers have fallen drastically in recent decades. The partnership is working to make sure the iconic species remains part of Scotland’s native wildlife.
Other projects include funding for a pool of skilled workers who will remove invasive plants including rhododendron and Japanese knotweed, allowing the natural regeneration of a rainforest; and a grant to create a new channel from a river, providing habitat features to benefit migrating and spawning Atlantic salmon and trout.
Climate Action Secretary Gillian Martin said: “The Nature Restoration Fund has delivered unprecedented funding for a huge range of projects that are currently and will continue to help with our goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2030.
“As more projects are supported by the fund, we learn more from the successes of each round – helping us respond to threats to our natural environment and support projects that are making a real difference across Scotland.”
Professor Colin Galbraith, chair of NatureScot, added: “We are at a moment in time where we risk losing some of our most precious wildlife and wild places for good. We cannot let this happen. Our daily lives rely on a healthy, functioning natural world, and we all have a part to play in supporting that.
“The Nature Restoration Fund is helping us put Scotland’s land, rivers, seas and all the species that live in them back on the road to recovery. The fund is a critical lifeline for Scotland’s nature.”