Scottish Government: Investing in nature, new funding to help projects grow

Over £3 million has been distributed to nature projects across Scotland to help them scale up their conservation work and ensure the benefits are shared with local communities.

The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) is co-funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with the Scottish Government and NatureScot. It aims to help create a pipeline of market-ready projects to help attract responsible private investment in Scotland’s nature.

27 diverse projects will share over £3.6 million this year; approximately £1.8 million from public funds and another £1.8 million matched by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The funded projects are spread across Scotland: from the Solway Firth to Shetland, Fife, across central Scotland, and the Hebrides.

Examples include using private finance to restore river catchments to improve water quality and reduce flood risk, while creating community assets such as growing spaces and improved greenspace. 

Environment Minister Gillian Martin visited the Water of Leith Catchment in Inverleith Park - one of the projects to benefit from the new funding. She said:

“The Scottish Government is already investing in nature at scale – with £65 million in the nature restoration fund and £250 million peatland restoration alone.

“However, given the scale of the challenges we face, public investment alone will not be sufficient to meet our ambitious climate change and nature targets. That is why both public and responsible private investment in Scotland’s natural environment will be essential.

“As set out in our new Programme for Government, we are committed to taking forward our distinctive market vision in Scotland – that is a market for responsible investment that contributes to a just transition by benefitting the environment and supporting communities.

“The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland will support a diverse range of projects - from those seeking to restore coastal saltmarshes, to iconic Atlantic rainforests, peatlands, rivers, lochs, farmland biodiversity and green spaces for nature and people. Encouraging responsible private investment will help ensure these projects can continue to grow and thrive.”

NatureScot Chief Executive Francesca Osowska said:

“As we tackle the climate-nature crisis with a growing urgency, everyone has the responsibility to get us to net zero. These first-round FIRNS grants offer communities, companies, charities and individuals across Scotland the opportunity to develop bold business cases and financial models which will attract the investment required to restore nature.

“I’m inspired by the creativity and ambition these projects show us as we scale up our efforts to halt biodiversity loss and create a nature-rich country for us all. A thriving natural capital market that benefits the restoration of our coasts, rainforests, peatlands, farmlands and urban greenspaces is great for communities and great for nature.”

The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland Caroline Clark said:

“FIRNS is an exciting opportunity to explore new ideas on how we attract vital investment to support the restoration of nature in Scotland. We are funding over £1.8 million in grants to develop investment models that are good for nature, good for communities and good for the economy.

“At The National Lottery Heritage Fund we are passionate about communities being at the heart of what we fund, and community involvement is vital to these projects. It is thanks to National Lottery Players that we can support this innovative work.”

Background

FIRNS - The Facility for Investment ready Nature in Scotland | NatureScot

The projects will make a key contribution to helping grow the use of responsible private investment and market-based mechanisms to finance the restoration of Scotland’s nature, while bringing benefits to communities.

These will be undertaken by a range of organisations, frequently working in partnership, and including private individuals and companies, community organisations, charities and trusts, and public bodies.

FIRNS has also received strategic support on its design and delivery from the Green Finance Institute (GFI). The GFI is an independent organisation that collaborates with government, communities, NGOs, land managers and the private sector to support the flow of capital towards nature restoration and a nature-positive transition. 

Notes to editors

Project background: Edinburgh Garden City Programme – Water of Leith Catchment project.

• This Development Phase project will create an evidence base of the socioeconomic value that can be generated through investment in specific urban natural capital projects identified in Edinburgh’s Nature Network (ENN) and Green Blue Network (GBN). The aim is to value and monetise the ecosystem services that would be generated by these interventions in order to provide a model for attracting and repaying investment that can be scaled and replicated. The project will provide decision-grade data to support the investment-readiness of specific projects in the Water of Leith catchment, as well as informing urban natural capital projects across Edinburgh and elsewhere.
• This project will focus on the Leith and Craigleith areas, identified in the GBN and ENN as priorities for nature-based intervention.
• Alongside the ecosystem services assessment, the project will identify and engage with beneficiaries and key potential investors to identify mechanisms, metrics and data requirements for an investment business model. Community engagement will be supported by resources in the Thriving Green Spaces project, Linking Leith’s Parks project and Craigleith Green Blue Neighbourhood Plan.
• The project will be delivered by City of Edinburgh Council and key stakeholders SWT, Scottish Water and SEPA.
• The project will engage with community interests in its design building on the extensive work already undertaken through Linking Leith’s Parks project – communities of interest (buyers/investors) and local communities. Circa 8 community engagement events are planned, c.4 business engagement events (e.g. industry associations, chamber of commerce) and 1-2-1 meetings with up to three target investors, following CEC’s placemaking co-design approach. This includes resource for developing a bespoke Community Engagement Plan for the next phase of a FIRNS project and plans for a Community Stakeholder Forum with potential to be represented on the Project Board. Benefits are described in terms of creating attractive and resilient neighbourhoods that deliver increased wellbeing, access to nature and opportunities for involvement in the care and maintenance of green infrastructure.

Project background: Dumfries and Galloway Council - Solway Coast and Marine Project.

• This Development Phase project will carry out initial scoping of the potential to use private finance in the delivery of landscape/seascape-scale nature restoration in the Solway Firth. The project will focus on opportunities in saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster habitats. This will inform plans and fundraising for the Solway Coast & Marine Project (SCAMP) which will run till 2035. FIRNS investment will allow the wider project to gain a better understanding of the marine investment market, identify obstacles and mechanisms, and the actions needed to bring investors on board.
• The project will be led by Dumfries and Galloway Council, in partnership with Solway Firth Partnership and Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere.
• Benefits for communities will focus on economic and social outcomes from restoring natural capital, such as local jobs, increased training, access to habitats and sites, health and wellbeing benefits. A strategic approach to community benefits from coastal and marine natural capital projects will be developed with local communities through this project and resources are included for this. This innovative and inclusive engagement will have learning which can be shared.
• The applicant notes that the unique ownership model in the marine/coastal environment gives a real opportunity to harness its natural capital potential, without the land-based challenges of high land prices, but with its own challenges and barriers.

Project background:  Deciding Matters - Community Benefits Standard for the UK Nature Investment Market developed in Scotland.

• This Development Phase project will develop and test the commercial viability of a Community Benefits certification that would provide assurance on the approach taken to generating place-based community benefits in private finance natural capital projects. This ‘plug-in’ standard will complement existing and developing ecosystem market standards and enable project developers to sell credits that reflect the additional value placed into local communities. The project will work with cross-sector partners and stakeholders to develop a Best Practice Guide on Community Inclusion for Community Benefit and a prototype Community Benefits standard, and prepare the outline business case to deliver a completed certification product. The work will feed into the British Standards Institute (BSI) UK Nature Investment Standards programme which has confirmed this product as meeting a gap in their identified priorities.
• The project will be delivered by Deciding Matters in partnership with Finance Earth, Soil Association Certification Ltd and Scottish Wildlife Trust and University of Strathclyde as a sub-contractor. Scottish Land Commission and James Hutton Institute (JHI) will provide key advisory roles, along with a wider stakeholder group.

Project background:  Fife Coast and Countryside Trust – Dreel Burn Investment Readiness.

• This grant will support Fife Coast and Countryside Trust to further develop CreditNature’s NARIA framework as a viable financial tool for quantifying biodiversity and using it to support the delivery of catchment scale restoration. A sample investment case will be developed utilising co-design of interventions and a community benefit vehicle. Engagement with communities will be undertaken through a communication and engagement plan, that will include events to engage potentially interested corporates. The project will be delivered by a partnership led by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust with support from Anstruther Improvements Association, Fife Council, James Hutton Institute, SEPA, CreditNature, North Star Transition, Apella Advisors, and Bidwells.