Welcome to Ground Cover, our roundup of news, science reports and features. Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s edition:
- National: Species recovery, election manifestos, breeding birds.
- Local: Heath campaign, Bass Rock gannets, allotments at risk.
- Reports: Net Gain, Biodiversity Duty Reports, blue carbon.
- Science: Woodland flora, insect decline, natural regeneration.
- Driftwood: Secret Garden, food forest, Oxygen Conservation.
National news
Recovery | The government has announced its ‘largest ever’ investment in species recovery, with £90 million allocated to support native wildlife over the next three years. The sum is split across two pots: £60 million for the Species Recovery Programme – double the previous round of funding – and £30 million for work on the national forest estate. The projects earmarked for funding will be confirmed in May, but a government release suggests that they will target species from ‘birds to beetles, moths to mammals and spiders, snails and seahorses’. The announcement comes as part of a wider rebrand of Defra’s species recovery work: its ‘Wild Again: Restoring England’s Wildlife’ campaign will encompass existing and future efforts by the department to protect and restore native species. BusinessGreen and the Independent covered the story.
Elections | Manifestos continue to roll in ahead of the May elections. In Wales, the Green Party had a lot to say on nature, including the promise of a National Rewilding Strategy, the reform of National Park legislation to emphasise biodiversity recovery, legal biodiversity targets by 2027, and proper resourcing of Natural Resources Wales. Plaid Cymru’s manifesto focused less on nature but included a pledge to achieve ‘substantive recovery’ for biodiversity by 2050 and to review spatial planning to seek ‘the right balance between food security, nature recovery and access to nature, local development needs, and renewable energy’. In Scotland, the Conservatives promised that no new government-backed rewilding projects would occur until ‘thorough assessment of the action is carried out’, with farmers given the power to veto any proposals that would damage their livelihoods. See last week’s Ground Cover for more manifesto coverage.
Nature deserves high quality journalism.
Inkcap focuses on deeply reported stories that get into the weeds of conservation in Britain. We are totally funded by readers, which means subscribing is the single best way to support our work.
