Nature Restoration Fund - Outcomes and Eligibility

The draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy defines clear priorities for the NRF and the impact we want projects to deliver.  The NRF currently focuses on broad priority themes, which will be further refined on publication of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy later in 2023. We would advise all applicants intending to submit an application following the launch of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to ensure they have read the strategy when it is published and consider how your project proposal aligns with the priorities.

We are keen to encourage and support partnership projects. These will be required to make the transformational changes needed to restore nature at the required scale and pace to achieve our biodiversity targets across our land, freshwater and seas by 2045.

The priority themes are:

• Habitat and species restoration: Management for enhancement and connectivity
• Freshwater restoration, including restoration of natural flows in rural catchments
• Coastal and marine initiatives which promote restoration, recovery, enhancement or resilience
• Control of invasive non-native species (INNS) impacting on nature
• Urban: Enhancing and connecting nature across, and between, towns and cities.

Climate change makes all factors more significant in impact. All project proposals must demonstrate how the project will help to address climate change and/or its impacts.