Countdown 2010 Action Fund – Year One
18 April 2007, Peterborough, UK. Launched in December 2005, the Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Action Fund currently supports projects across all nine of England’s regions. These projects are run by Voluntary Conservation Organisations and they are all working towards fulfilling the aims of the England Biodiversity Strategy or the UK Biodiversity Action Plans.
34 projects have been awarded for the period 2006-2008, representing a diverse and wide range of applicants that contribute to halt the loss of biological diversity through raising public awareness among schools, communities and major stakeholders and engaging people in conservation work. The Countdown 2010 fund will support work around the whole of England and benefit a wide variety of species, habitats and communities.
The projects are now well underway and have already started to achieve major gains for biodiversity. Here are a few highlights:
- 60 hectares of lowland heathland have been restored in Leicestershire and three heathland sites in Hampshire are being brought back into favourable condition by the introduction of grazing.
- Ten schools in Sussex have signed up to making major biodiversity improvements to their school grounds, and 12,400 pupils along the south coast have an increased awareness of marine biodiversity from attending the Cool Seas Roadshows.
- Two breeding pairs of stone-curlew have been recorded at Manor Farm in Wiltshire and 72 cirl bunting chicks were successfully hand reared and released into the wild as part of a reintroduction programme in Cornwall.
- The BTCV has engaged 19,185 volunteers in biodiversity conservation work on 991 sites across England and the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is extending opportunities for young people to experience biodiversity through outdoor education.
- 4,500 stag beetle sightings have been recorded by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species since the launch of the Great Stag Hunt in June 2006 and Buglife has mapped 350 brownfield sites in the Thames gateway to help protect invertebrates against development.
- Through successful environmental stewardship applications, over 450 hectares of farmland in the Stroud Valley will be improved for wildlife and 41 hectares of farmland in Wiltshire have been reverted to chalk grassland.
- A pioneering project to control invasive species within the River Tweed catchment has been recognised as a best practice model by the Environment Agency and Natural England.
The Environmental Action Fund is a Defra funding scheme to support voluntary and community sector groups to further the Government’s sustainable development objectives within England. Funded projects focus for example on influencing consumption within communities to become more sustainable, and address local or regional challenges. The fund has financed Biodiversity projects to assist activities which meet the Government’s objectives of promoting species and habitat biodiversity in England.
