Funding Nature Networks (Summary)

In Scotland, Nature Networks can be funded through a blend of public funding and land-use support, developer contributions, and private/nature-finance mechanisms. There is currently no single Nature Networks fund.

The most appropriate funding mechanism will depend upon factors such as stage of progress (e.g. mapping, project delivery), land ownership and location. Listing projects on the Nature Finance Exchange is one way to connect businesses and funders with nature projects.

Work is underway to ensure Nature Networks are considered in possible future funding streams, for example future agri-environment schemes, updated Forestry Grant Scheme, points under the Scottish Biodiversity Metric (which will include Positive Effects for Biodiversity) etc.

Nature Restoration Fund (NRF)

Designed to support habitat creation/restoration and biodiversity recovery.

Good fit for:

• Habitat creation, restoration and enhancement
• INNS control
• corridor, stepping-stone, and site-improvement works
• project development work where a fund round allows it
• local authority / partnership delivery projects
• rural and urban projects
• local-regional scale

Peatland ACTION

The national programme for restoring damaged peatlands in Scotland, funding on-the-ground restoration and supporting enabling work such as feasibility studies, surveys, design, project management and practical works. Useful for capital works and getting peatland components of a network “investment ready.”

Good fit for:

• peatland restoration within a wider Nature Network
• feasibility/surveys/design for peatland interventions
• capital restoration works on degraded peatland

Agri-environment and land management support

Nature Networks will cross farmed landscapes, and connectivity often depends on actions such as riparian buffers, species-rich grassland, hedgerows, wetland creation, field-margin management, and low-intensity habitat management on agricultural land.

Good fit for:

• connectivity across farmed land
• habitat management by land managers
• smaller but cumulative “stitching together” actions between core sites

Forestry and woodland grants

Funding for Nature Network interventions such as Woodland creation, native woodland expansion, riparian woodland, and habitat linkages between existing woods. Nature finance guidance for Scotland also points to woodland carbon-related routes alongside grant support.

Good fit for:

• woodland creation/expansion as habitat links
• native woodland restoration
• shelterbelts, riparian woodland, and strategic planting that improves connectivity

National Lottery Heritage Fund and similar project grants

The National Lottery Heritage Fund can support projects that aim to improve habitat, conserve species, and help people connect to nature. These funds can be especially useful where a Nature Network has a strong community, heritage, engagement, interpretation, access, or capacity-building dimension.

Good fit for:

• community-led or place-based Nature Network projects
• engagement, volunteering, access, interpretation, learning
• partnership development and local capacity

Peatland Code

The Peatland Code can attract private finance via the voluntary carbon market. Landowners restoring eligible degraded peatland can generate carbon units that may be sold to fund restoration and long-term management. Peatland ACTION and the Peatland Code can be used alongside one another.

Best fit for:

• larger peatland projects
• projects with measurable carbon benefits
• longer-term blended finance, not just grant support

Woodland Carbon Code

A route to private investment for woodland creation/restoration. For Nature Networks, this is most relevant where woodland expansion is a major component of connectivity and the project can credibly generate verified carbon units.

Good fit for:

• large woodland creation / restoration projects
• projects that can support verified carbon claims and long-term monitoring
• blended models combining grant plus carbon finance

Scotland is developing responsible private investment and market-based mechanisms for nature restoration.

Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS)

Created to help projects become investment-ready, and the wider policy direction is toward blended models that combine public money with private investment.

What this can look like in practice

• grant-funded project development + private capital for delivery/maintenance
• stacking income streams (e.g. biodiversity, carbon, water quality, flood mitigation, access/public benefit where possible)
• special-purpose vehicles or landscape partnerships aggregating multiple land parcels/projects

Good fit for:

• large, landscape-scale Nature Networks
• multi-landowner programmes
• projects with a revenue story or measurable ecosystem-service outcomes

Developer contributions and planning-led funding

Identifying opportunities as part of a Nature Network can help target finance from developments into important biodiversity-connectivity areas under National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 3. Where local authorities have mapped and prioritised their Nature Network, there is a clearer basis for seeking or steering biodiversity-related contributions from development into the right places.

This is potentially one of the most practical funding routes for local authorities, because it links Nature Networks to:

• planning obligations / negotiated developer contributions
• biodiversity enhancement linked to planning decisions
• green-blue infrastructure delivered through development frameworks and masterplans

Good fit for:

• urban/peri-urban Nature Networks
• green/blue infrastructure corridors
• habitat creation linked to growth areas or regeneration

Philanthropic, charitable and partnership funding

For some projects—especially community, urban, or species/habitat-specific ones—Nature Network delivery can be assembled from a patchwork of:

• charitable trusts / foundations
• heritage and community funds
• corporate philanthropy / CSR
• contributions from NGOs, estates, utilities, and anchor institutions

Good fit for:

• project development phases
• gap-filling around public grants
• local partnership-led schemes with strong public engagement value