Nature Recovery Fund Launched

We’re aiming to raise £100,000 this year, to increase the land we own, restore and manage for wildlife.

By Debbie Stenner, Head of Fundraising and Communications.

Healthy ecosystems, rich in biodiversity are vital for us all to live and thrive. However, our biodiversity is threatened by climate change and habitat reduction and degradation caused by inappropriate development, pollution and over-exploitation. Wales’ wildlife continues to decline with the State of Nature 2019 Report revealing that 1 in 6 species are at risk of extinction.

We have been protecting important sites for wildlife for 60 years, from Nature Reserves out across ‘living landscapes’ of connected habitats. Our Nature Reserves provide vital refuges for wildlife and remain the biodiversity hotspots which protect our most important habitats and species and allow them to repopulate the wider landscape.

This is why we have set an ambitious strategic goal – to double the amount of land we manage for wildlife by 2030.

CEO Adam Taylor explains why we’ve made this bold commitment. “By 2030 we need to see 30% of land and sea protected and well managed for wildlife. This is a huge target, so we are giving it everything we’ve got. We’re working with policy makers to improve subsidies for farmers and landowners so they can make a decent living whilst saving wildlife, engaging and training thousands of people to take action for wildlife where they live, and acquiring additional land that we will manage for wildlife so that key habitats and species can thrive.”

This Nature Recovery fund will help us acquire additional land, with negotiations currently taking place on 4 sites totalling 676 acres; that’s larger than the size of Monaco! We are also especially grateful to the current owners of these sites for their huge generosity, as during discussions these sites have been made available to GWT in one case for just the cost of the legal fees, and in the others at a small fraction of the market price, meaning we can save more wildlife with every pound we receive.

The sites represent a range of different habitats including uplands and heathlands in the Brecon Beacons, grasslands in Monmouthshire and fantastic grassland and wetland habitats on the Gwent Levels. Our team, together with other local ecologists, have identified these sites as being particularly important for wildlife, including rare and threatened species like Lapwing, Peregrine Falcon and Adder as well as a wide array of invertebrates, flora and fungi.

The acquisition of these sites is still underway at the time of writing, so we aren’t disclosing the exact locations yet. If they don’t go ahead we will continue to pursue other opportunities to acquire and protect high quality sites for nature. As well as restoring these new sites, we’ll continue to monitor and record wildlife across our nature reserves and engage and advise other landowners to link-up existing, fragmented, wild areas to enable wildlife to spread and thrive.

By supporting this appeal, you will be helping us complete the purchase of new nature reserves in Gwent and contributing to the initial management.

To support our Nature Recovery appeal:

We will be launching our Big Green Give matched funding appeal online on 20th April. If you make a donation via the appeal page during this week, your gift could be worth double, thanks to matched funding from The Big Give Trust.

For a chance of being match funded, donations must be made online, via the Big Give website, between 20th and 27th April.

If you would prefer not to give online via the Big Give, you can donate to our appeal by credit or debit card via our website at www.gwentwildlife.org/appeal or by sending a cheque payable to Gwent Wildlife Trust to Gwent Wildlife Trust appeal, Seddon House, Dingestow Court, Monmouth NP25 4DY. If you have any questions about this appeal, would like to support us with your business or community or would like to know more before making your donation, please email Debbie at dstenner@gwentwildlife.org.

ABOUT BIG GIVE MATCHED FUNDING APPEALS:

Last year, your support helped us raise over £16,966.25 through two appeals with the Big Give. Big Give run match funding campaigns for charities and special causes. The Green Match Fund is designed specifically for charities working on environmental issues, whilst their Christmas Challenge is open to all. The Big Give has helped raise £233,853,862 for 14,096 charities since 2008!