DAERA has awarded grant funding to five (not for profit) organisations which successfully applied for funding to undertake Peatland restoration projects across Northern Ireland and the border region, as part of a programme of cooperation with counterparts in Ireland and Scotland.
The total funding awarded is £2.7 million and will enable projects to address the deterioration of our Peatlands and its impact on Climate Change over the next three years.
Announcing the funding from the Peatland Challenge Fund, Minister Muir said: “The projects awarded funding will restore peatland habitats, build capacity for sustaining this progress, and inform and engage the public with the knowledge of the enormous importance of peatlands to our environment. This is an exciting next step in Northern Ireland’s journey towards healthier and more resilient peatlands. We can look to the future with confidence that our precious peatlands will help us meet our biodiversity targets and Net Zero contributions.”
The organisations successful in the application process include: Ulster Wildlife with its project ‘Building capacity for peatland restoration’; RSPBNI with its project ‘Peat restoration in collaboration’; The National Trust with its project ‘Understanding our past natural and cultural landscape heritage to enhance current peatland restoration’; Fermanagh and Omagh District Council with its project ‘Cross border peatland scoping project’; and Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust with its project ‘Altikeeragh peatland restoration and monitoring’.
This Peatland Challenge Fund forms part of the Cross-Border Peatlands Restoration Programme announced in 2022 as part of the Shared Island initiative, with a partnership between the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland, and NatureScot. The programme is enabling cross-border collaboration, knowledge-sharing and expertise-building in peatland restoration across Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland to collectively deliver initiatives that contribute to meeting common Climate Change targets.
The award of funding by DAERA through NIEA commences the programme delivery objectives in Northern Ireland.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD said: “The restoration of peatlands, which are an integral component of our shared ecosystem, is a key measure in the joint fight to protect biodiversity and combat climate change. I warmly welcome this announcement of five successful applications for peatland restoration. The collaboration between our National Parks and Wildlife Service with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and NatureScot is helping to conserve our peatlands and biodiversity resources, which the Government of Ireland is pleased to support, as part of the Shared Island initiative.”
Notes to editors:
- The Peatland Challenge Competition complements DAERA’s five-year Strategic Strand of the Environment Fund.
- The Environment Fund is a long-standing key delivery mechanism through which the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) secures delivery of strategic environmental outcomes through the provision of grant aid and partnership working with the voluntary sector and councils. More info on the Environment Fund is available at: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/environment-fund-2023-2028
- The cross-border peatlands cooperation programme was announced in December 2022, as part of the Shared Island initiative, and supported through funding of €10m from the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund, €5m from the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland, and with contributions also from DAERA and Nature Scot. The programme is enabling collaboration, knowledge-sharing and expertise-building in peatland restoration across Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland. The first tripartite conference under the programme will take place in Scotland in October 2024 with delegates from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and beyond participating.
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