Natural England is receiving an almost 50% boost in funding for both people and wildlife! Not only will species protection increase, there is incentives for people to plant and protect wildlife!
The government conservation group, Natural England, is about to receive $20 million or £16 million! After decades of funding cuts, the UK can finally starts to make progress with environmental initiatives.
What is Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental group within the United Kingdom. It is sponsored by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
This group serves as a government conservation watchdog which holds England’s government accountable for wildlife and habitat conservation. It is responsible for ensuring land, plants, animals and fresh water is protected and improved.
Decades of Little Funding
After many, many years for budget cuts and very little funding, Natural England was in a crisis. Chairman, Tony Juniper, admits that it was a struggle to reverse the declines in biodiversity.
Last year’s budget increased by £15 million and the total budget for 2021-2022 will rise to £198 million. 90% of this budget is from DEFRA (Department for environmental, food and rural affairs).
However, the increase in budget is still lower than the budget from 2008-2009 which was £265 million.
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Goals for natural england
There are several initiatives that Natural England plans on implementing with the budget increase.
Planting strips of trees along rivers to reduce flood risks as well as planting into large woodlands. Additionally, the government will be funding farmers and landowners to allow the growth of tree saplings.
The government also pledged to increase tree planting efforts to 30,000 hectares by 2025.
Environmental Secretary, George Eustice said in a statement, “Our ambition is not just to treble tree planting rates by 2025 but to create diverse treescapes across the country which will benefit wildlife, the environment and people.”
These goals and initiatives are to help not only with climate change but also to combat flooding, soak up carbon and create habitats.
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