Mayor of London adds up to £1.45 million to Rewild London

The Mayor Sadiq Khan has this month launched the second round of his “Rewild London Fund” to create more habitats for animals and plants, in order to help make the city greener and more resilient to the effects of climate change.

£850,000 additional funding is available to managers of London’s 1,600 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs), which cover 20 per cent of the capital. These include world-famous nature reserves such as Richmond Park, Sydenham Hill Woods and the downlands in Bromley and Croydon that inspired Charles Darwin’s discoveries. Currently only around half of SINC sites are being appropriately managed to conserve or enhance their particular ecosystems.

Funded projects could include creating new habitats such as meadows or heathlands, restoring waterways or linking up the capital's last remaining ancient woodlands to provide new homes for wildlife such as butterflies as well as birds like tawny owl, swift and skylark. The Rewild London fund could see the restoration of key habitats that would build the foundations for the possible future reintroduction of creatures long gone from the capital.

The Rewild London fund will be delivered in collaboration with London Wildlife Trust who have helped secure a £750,000 commitment from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund,

Round one of the Rewild London Fund in 2021 worth £600,000 supported 19 projects to enhance London’s most valuable wildlife sites. Projects include reintroducing grazing cattle in Enfield; supporting the reintroduction of water voles to the Hogsmill river in Kingston, where 101 water voles were released in August 2022; creating new chalk grassland habitats for butterflies in Sutton; and working with ZSL to help London’s hedgehogs by monitoring them to inform the management of their habitat.

This second round of funding that will be available through Rewild London is receiving £850,000; £250,000 from the GLA and £600,000 from Amazon’s $100 million Right Now Climate Fund.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for the Environment said: “These projects will play a significant role in reintroducing Londoners to the beauty and excitement of nature and will help boost the capital as a haven for wildlife. We want to build a better and greener London for everyone and the Rewild London Fund is helping us to make that a reality.”

London's SINCs are at the heart of the capital's nature network. The fund will enable pioneering conservation efforts to improve the ecology of these vital spaces and demonstrate how people and wildlife can thrive side by side to mutual benefit.’’