RSPB
Birds and so much more
The RSPB is the UK charity working to secure a healthy environment for birds and other wildlife, helping to create a better world for us all. The RSPB exists to conserve wild birds and the environment.
The RSPB is a voice for nature supported by over one million members. With wildlife and the environment facing many threats, our work is focused on the species and habitats that are in the greatest danger.
Our work is driven by the passionate belief that:
• birds and wildlife enrich people's lives
• the health of bird populations is indicative of the health of the planet, on which the future of the human race depends
• we all have a responsibility to protect wildlife.
The RSPB is funded largely by voluntary contributions raised each year. The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is an important source of conservation funding; it is worth even more as match funding alongside other grants and can help lever in funding to a project many times the original contribution.
Since 2003, the LCF has supported projects specifically targeting UK and Local Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority species and habitats in England. It has been a welcome contribution to this massively under-funded area. (Recent costing work has indicated that there is a shortfall of c.£220 million a year to meet BAP targets in England.)
SITA Trust has led the way by committing to a three-year Enriching Nature Programme of their own setting aside £13.5m for biodiversity projects across England. It has become an important source of biodiversity funding for the RSPB and has provided the cornerstone of many projects. For example, it has provided match funding for a European funding grant for an innovative Sustainable Reedbed Management Project at RSPB Ham Wall Reserve in Somerset. This project combines managing the reedbed (UK BAP priority habitat) for wildlife, with a way of disposing of excess vegetation by turning it into a useful product – compost. The project has been so successful that RSPB are now looking at how this could be adapted to help conservation management on other reserves.
“The RSPB has been delighted to work in partnership with SITA Trust over many years. SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature Programme has made a fantastic contribution to the conservation of threatened species and habitats,” said Graham Wynne, Chief Executive, RSPB
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