A partnership of private sector funders are aiming to raise £240 million to help farmers restore peatland, woodland and grassland in fifteen national parks.
With less than a month to go before the COP26 in Glasgow, the UK’s national parks have announced a number of nature restoration projects.
The projects will, in turn, create new income streams for farmers and landowners who live within the UK's 15 national parks.
Initial private sector funders include financial services provider Santander UK, Gatwick Airport, Capita and Southern Co-op.
Additional funding has been secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Defra.
Pilots include the restoration of degraded peatland in the Cairngorms in Scotland, which will generate revenues for landowners as well as creating verified carbon credits.
The conversion of hundreds of acres of arable farmland in the South Downs National Park to woodland pasture will also commence, funded through the sale of carbon, biodiversity and water quality outcomes.
Elsewhere, farmers in the Esk Valley in the North Yorkshire Moors are working to restore habitats and deliver natural flood defence improvements.
And in the New Forest, arable land is being restored to woodland to generate nitrate reduction and improvements in biodiversity.
Naomi Conway, development director at National Parks Partnerships said: "As COP26 approaches, we want to remind the UK of the role that the national parks can play in fighting the impacts of climate change and improving biodiversity.
"This pioneering private sector support will get us closer to achieving the scale and pace of nature restoration that the UK so urgently needs.”
