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Natur am byth! Saving Wales’ threatened species

What we're doing

The Natur am Byth partnership is Wales’ flagship Green Recovery project. It unites nine environmental charities with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to deliver the country’s largest natural heritage and outreach programme to save species from extinction and reconnect people to nature.

The 10 core partners are:

The programme has to happen now in the wake of Covid-19, delivering the Green Recovery agenda to support local wellbeing through connection to nature.

Our partnership will give much needed capacity into the natural heritage sector to save threatened species. Working together we will create a new wave of nature ambassadors and celebrate Cynefin – the distinct natural heritage that underpins communities across Wales.

A successful stage 1 application to National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) was awarded to the partnership in June 2021.

This need for investment has been recognised by Welsh Government with a commitment to Natur am Byth from the First Minister and cash funding supporting our application.

Natur am Byth shares the same partners as our species recovery projects in England and Scotland – Back from the Brink  and Species on the Edge. Learning from them, along with National Lottery Heritage Fund's evaluation of their work, has been invaluable as we shape the development of Natur am Byth. 

Reports

Bryophytes survey of Roundton Hill updates baseline knowledge of the population size and distribution of two Environment (Wales) Act Section 7 mosses – Tortula canescens and Weissia levieri – and four other Nationally Rare or Nationally Scarce bryophytes.

Heritage

Natur am Byth partners have identified species facing the greatest threat of extinction and of particular importance to Wales informed by the Environment (Wales) Act section 7 list in consultation with natural heritage experts across Wales and the UK.

We’ve mapped these species against themes and identified the landscapes and coastal areas to target our heritage and engagement programme.

Natur am Byth is unique in that we’re integrating terrestrial and marine management issues, supporting vulnerable marine species as well as those on land and freshwater.

Our areas of focus are:

Llŷn peninsula and Anglesey
Pembrokeshire
Gower and Swansea City
Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend
Vale of Glamorgan
Cardiff and Newport Gwent Levels
Snowdonia
Powys
Wrexham

In most of these areas we will use an integrated approach to deliver multiple benefits for rare species. Some locations represent isolated populations of species on the brink of extinction.

Vision and outcomes

Our 20-year vision we see a future for Wales where:

people and wildlife flourish together in recovering habitats
people from all walks of life in Wales will feel that they belong in, enjoy and care for nature
organisations across the fabric of Welsh society will work together to care for nature and value the benefits their community get from it
we’ll have a resilient nature conservation, environment and land management sector that collaborates to make a bigger difference for species as part of healthy ecosystems

As a result of our programme we will have:

put the risks to threatened species on the agenda and shown why it matters
demonstrated how to save our nation’s most endangered species and helped them to recover through resilient ecosystems
inspired people in Wales from all walks of life to take action and mobilised diverse communities to care for the wildlife on their doorstep
helped a new wave of conservation ambassadors and practitioners to emerge
collaborated to find solutions to the most pressing issues for species conservation in Wales

Project timeline

Stage 1: September 2021 to February 2023
Stage 2 submission March 2023
Stage 2: September 2023 to September 2027

How we will engage with people

To create lasting change, Natur am Byth will:

consult and engage to better understand communities
promote wellbeing through connection to nature
find the relevance of rare species to the people of Wales

By communicating with the public, engaging new audiences and creating volunteer activities we will bring species to life and increase the value that Welsh culture and language places on the natural world.

We’ll work with creative industries, delivery partners and our own small community grants scheme to ensure our programme is accessible to all, with an emphasis on inclusion and targeting communities in areas of multiple deprivation.

Budget

The partnership has budgeted total project costs at £8m. We have secured development phase funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund, with our delivery phase application scheduled in Feb 2023 for a total of £5m.

£1.7m cash match funding has been secured from Natural Resources Wales, plus support from the Welsh Government.

The final budget and transformative potential of the project will be dependent on the amount of additional funding the partnership secures to match the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. If our stage 2 application is successful a 4-year delivery phase would begin in Sept 2023 running to autumn 2027.

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Exciting opportunities to give nature a helping hand

Contact us

For more information, or to contact a member of the team, email naturambyth@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

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