Minister of State for heritage and electoral reform, Malcolm Noonan has today (Wednesday, January 25) announced a doubling of funding to the Local Biodiversity Action Fund to €3 million for 2023.

Local authorities can now apply to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to avail of this funding to deliver local biodiversity projects.

First launched in 2018, the Local Biodiversity Action Fund offers funding to help local authorities achieve actions identified in the National Biodiversity Action Plan.

This funding stream enables the development of projects that address biodiversity loss in local authority areas by helping to create new habitats, restoring existing ones and by tackling invasive alien species.

The scheme, operated by the NPWS, has proven popular, with 109 projects funded in 2022.

A wide variety of projects were financed including in the areas of wetland restoration, bird surveys, dune restoration, biodiversity awareness and invasive alien species.

Commenting on the announcement, Minister Noonan said: “I’m delighted to be able to double the funding for this vital biodiversity funding scheme, which has proven immensely popular with local authorities, who have carried out really impactful projects with the funding.

"Reversing biodiversity loss is among the greatest challenges of our times. Locally led initiatives can be extremely impactful – supporting them is an important part of the response. Local authorities play an important role in these efforts," the junior minister added.

Examples of projects that received funding in 2022 include:

An amount of €3 million has been made available in 2023 for the NBAP Local Authority Biodiversity Grant Scheme.

The funding was made available, in line with a grant application and award process, to biodiversity officers in the counties that have them, and heritage officers.

Work on drafting Ireland’s 4th NBAP is underway; the public consultation closed in November 2022 and will be published in 2023.