The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme has announced its next call for landscape restoration grants.

Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, countries have committed to ensuring that at least 30% of degraded land is under effective restoration by 2030. Landscapes have a vital role to play in contributing to this target and halting biodiversity loss by providing the connectivity and space for nature to thrive and ecological processes to recover.  Landscapes also mitigate climate change by storing and sequestering carbon, and they provide a range of benefits to people by supporting livelihoods and improving well-being.

The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme funds large-scale landscape restoration initiatives within countries across Europe that are driven by strong partnerships, supported by local communities and are working with a range of sectors to deliver for nature, climate and people. Since 2018, they have supported 14 projects from the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to the Koitajoki watershed in Finland and the Kakheti grasslands in Georgia. In Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds are undertaking state-of-the-art restoration of forests and grasslands to influence land-management over 810,000 hectares and to support the recovery of key species such as vultures and souslik in the long-term. Rewilding Portugal are restoring wildlife and natural processes in the Côa Valley of Northern Portugal, reconnecting the valley with existing protected areas and thereby creating a large-scale wildlife corridor. This is preventing wildfires, strengthening human wildlife co-existence and revitalising the local economy through the marketing of food and local products by the Wild Côa Network.

The restoration of multi-functional landscapes at scale is complex. The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme are looking for bold and innovative projects that have a long-term vision and want to deliver impact on the ground. They are also keen to support projects who are willing to share their experiences and learnings with the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme restoration network and the wider restoration community.

The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme are hosting a webinar on 24 October, from 11:00am – 12:30pm BST, to provide an overview of their work and the landscape restoration grant call. If you are interested in participating, please register here.

There will also be a drop-in session on 4 November where you can book a short 1:1 meeting with the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme Management Team to discuss your ideas in more depth. More information on booking will be provided at the webinar.

The deadline for EOI applications is 22:59 GMT on Tuesday 14^th January 2025.  Apply here.

Proposals are particularly welcome from projects in geographic areas which are currently not receiving significant conservation attention and/or are underrepresented in the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme portfolio. For any enquiries about the call please contact Sarah Sanders.