The Government have today announced nature projects which tackle climate change, create and restore habitats, or improve water quality could soon benefit from a new £10 million fund to help them both benefit the environment and attract private sector investment, the Government has announced today (10 February).

The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund will provide grants of up to £100,000 to environmental groups, local authorities, businesses and other organisations to help them develop nature projects in England to a point where they can attract private investment. 

BBC News, and Sky News report progress towards protecting the UK’s environment has been “painfully slow”, a government spending watchdog has warned. The Public Accounts Committee pointed out that ministers had first pledged a decade ago to improve the natural environment within a generation. But it complained of serious delays in tackling “critical” issues like air pollution, water quality and wildlife loss. 

The Independent reports a national push by the government and numerous wildlife and environment organisations to restore the natural world across England has been launched, aiming to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change and people’s isolation from the natural world. But it comes as some of the same environment groups supporting the initiative have warned that public funding for green recovery projects is already 10 times oversubscribed. 

INEWS reports the Government must funnel more funding into nature schemes if it wants to save thousands of jobs in the sector and keep key green targets within reach. That is the message from the UK’s leading environmental charities, including the National Trust, Woodland Trust, Wildlife and Countryside Link and The Wildlife Trusts. They were among the green groups to pen a letter to the Chancellor, calling for Rishi Sunak to plough more cash into the Green Recovery Challenge Fund.

edie reports the UK Government must “urgently” help large businesses to value the natural resources in their value chains and to promote conservation and restoration at scale, the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has concluded. The Committee, which was founded in 2012 and works as an independent advisor to Defra, has published its ‘end of term report’. 

The Guardian reports the UK is failing on its long-term biodiversity targets and seeing “relentless” declines in wildlife, according to government data that shows public sector investment in conservation falling in real terms by 33% in five years. Out of 24 indicators of ecological health, 14 show long-term decline. 

The BBC reports an extra 400,000 hectares of English countryside will be protected to support the recovery of nature under plans to be announced by Boris Johnson.

The prime minister will make the commitment at a virtual United Nations event later. He is joining a global pledge from 65 leaders to reverse losses in the natural world by the same date.

National parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and other protected areas make up 26% of land in England. Mr Johnson will promise that the government will increase the amount of protected land in the UK from 26% at present to 30% by 2030.

The South Downs from Ditchling Beacon photo by hehaden under creative commons. The South Downs National Park is England’s newest national park, designated in 2010, and, of course, within only thirty minutes drive of Normandy village.