- EOL window opens:
- EOL window closes:
Whilst the scheme is separate from the Sustainable Farming Scheme, it will be used to inform the collaborative element of this scheme during this interim period.
This scheme forms part of a preparatory phase of activities which may lead to collaborative projects ready to participate in the collaboration layer of the Sustainable Farming Scheme.
The scheme will provide funding for implementing nature-based solutions at the appropriate scale, targeting action and interventions to enhance and sustainably manage our natural resources. This could be through enhancing our carbon-rich soils such as peatlands, creating and managing woodland, implementing natural flood risk management, enhancing access and public engagement, protecting landscape and historic features. Delivering actions to enhance priority and semi natural habitats, improving the connectivity, scale, adaptability, or diversity of semi natural habitats and our natural features, ensuring ecosystem resilience. Strengthening the resilience of Wales’ network of protected sites by working at a landscape scale to improve connectivity and condition.
The scheme embeds the principles of the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: guide to support collaborative landscape-scale projects delivering action that improves our natural resources in a way that delivers to farm and rural businesses, rural communities, and wider social benefits. It will also support and facilitate co-ordination with other schemes to undertake the vital action needed to improve the resilience of farm and rural businesses, and rural communities to help address the climate and nature emergency.
The scheme will fund targeted and prioritised action on the ground, through multiyear agreements, which have wide ranging and ambitious interventions across continuous landscapes to deliver against our main objectives:
- respond to the biodiversity and climate emergency
- inform the development of future potential windows and/or schemes
- to support increased collaboration & partnership working between farmers, other land managers and wider organisations
The scheme therefore seeks to enable the development of groups and to identify land or continuous landscapes to be brought together to deliver the aims of the project. Land does not have to be directly adjoining; a continuous landscape can be defined by its nature or status and/or linked through integrated ecosystems, habitats or natural features.
Further information and how to apply for the scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.wales/integrated-natural-resources-scheme