The Nature Networks Fund has awarded a grant of £250,000 to Blaenau Gwent Council which will fund a project to help understand the value and connectivity of ecosystems across Gwent and the benefits they provide for both people and nature.
The Nature Networks Fund is a collaborative programme between The Heritage Fund, Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales which was set up to tackle ecological challenges.
In partnership with Natural Resources Wales and in collaboration with organisations across the region, the Council will work to create plans for resilient ecological networks. These plans will inform how and where to improve habitats, undertake nature recovery actions and outline why environmental wellbeing is important.
Helen Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Place & Environment says:
“We are committed to tackling the climate and nature emergencies declared by the Council. This support from the Nature Networks Fund, distributed by the Heritage Fund in partnership with the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, will enable us to work in partnership to make positive changes for people and nature here in Blaenau Gwent and across the region.”
Steve Morgan, Head of Southeast Wales Ops at Natural Resources Wales, says:
“This project will enable us to achieve significant acceleration towards building ecosystem resilience through a Resilient Ecological Networks (RENs) approach across Gwent, helping us better understand and maximise the fundamental role and value of nature and ecosystem services that underpin our wellbeing, prosperity, culture and identity across our distinct landscapes and habitats.
“The project also highlights the commitment in Gwent to working collaboratively and in partnership to support nature’s recovery, contributing towards meeting our Corporate Plan Vision and Wellbeing Goals where biodiversity is protected, valued, restored, and wisely used so that nature and people genuinely thrive together in a way that is sustainable for future generations.
“I look forward to seeing the successful progress of this project as it develops in contribution to our collective efforts in taking urgent action to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity at the pace and scale needed, building ecosystem resilience as a nature based solutions approach to climate change and pollution, as well as enhancing opportunities and benefits for the health, wellbeing and resilience of nature and people equitably and inclusively in Gwent.”
