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🗞️ Driving the news: Six new landmark nature projects aimed at boosting wildlife recovery and improving climate security are being launched by Natural England and the UK government
• These projects span 176,000 hectares of land, including locations like the Tees Estuary, South Downs, and the Lost Wetlands in Cheshire and Lancashire

🔭 The context: The nature recovery schemes aim to manage flooding, enhance carbon stores, and create diverse habitats for wildlife such as the endangered wart-biter cricket
• These initiatives also seek to boost public access to nature and counter the impacts of industrialization, agricultural intensification, and urbanization that have led to modified river systems and drained wetlands

🌎 Why does it matter for the planet: These schemes aim to increase climate resilience and carbon sequestration while also enhancing the quality of water resources
• Also, by creating new wildlife corridors that connect wetlands to rivers, these projects will facilitate species dispersal, promoting biodiversity and ecosystem health

⏭️ What's next: The projects, funded by £7.4m from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will work on providing habitat refugia for wildlife during climate change pressures

💬 One quote: "Once common wildlife such as water voles, great crested newts and lapwings will be able to thrive, and local communities will benefit from closer connections with nature" (Ginny Hinton, Natural England area manager for Cheshire to Lancashire)

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