A UK-first project to protect the North’s natural world

In a UK first, Northern England has developed a consortium of leading environmental organisations, Nature North, to protect our ‘beautiful and fragile’ natural world.

Rob Parsons explains more in his Northern Agenda article below:

Home to world-renowned natural landscapes from the rugged coastlines of Northumberland to the sprawling Yorkshire Dales, the natural environment of the North is hugely diverse and distinctive. 

But unlike other areas of the country, Northern England now has a consortium of leading environmental organisations who have joined forces to aid nature recovery at a strategic scale. Nature North, made up of the likes of the Environment Agency and National Parks authorities, is the first known initiative of its kind in the UK working at this magnitude.

And today it was announced that the group is getting £500,000 of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation so it can move forward with ambitious plans to halt the decline in nature so that everyone across the North can benefit.

It’s already working on two existing projects, the Northern Forest and the Great North Bog, but will now focus on five other schemes including ‘healthy Northern rivers’, which includes reconnecting flood plains to rivers and reintroducing key species.

Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, said: “Collaboration on this sort of scale is absolutely vital, if we are to mount an effective response to climate change and restore the natural world by creating a Nature Recovery Network across this beautiful and fragile part of England.

“No one organisation can do what’s necessary on its own, but each can bring its own specialist expertise, experience and evidence to this partnership and start to turn our national targets and ambitions into practical action on the ground.”

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