Ecological Restoration Fund

The Ecological Restoration Fund supports work that protects biodiverse hot-spots, rejuvenates degraded landscapes and promotes local environmental activism across the UK and Europe. They help to re-establish nature’s essential interconnections, whilst enhancing opportunities for local communities to create sustainable, nature-based economies. 

Funding from the Ecological Restoration Fund will support three areas of work, which all contribute to our strategic goal to put nature into recovery and our aim to secure 30% of land and seas protected and connected for nature by 2030.  

Protecting and restoring marine and coastal environments

Our marine conservation work will help to ensure that a network of protected areas in our seas allows nature to be restored, enabling marine wildlife to increase in abundance and diversity and supporting functioning ecosystems.  

Bringing back missing keystone species

Our keystone species reintroduction work will make vital progress towards reintroducing species that are missing from the UK’s ecosystems. Through their natural activities, these species will help to create habitats which support a diverse range of wildlife and bring about functioning ecosystems. This includes our ambitions to release free-living beavers in the UK.  

Rewilding our landscapes

By restoring large areas of land, natural processes will start functioning well again, and nature’s abundance and diversity will return. The funding will support Wildlife Trusts to acquire land to restore for nature and support major programmes of work including the recovery of the UK’s Atlantic rainforest.