Benn's £2m Boost For Nature Conservation

Plans to boost the number of people who volunteer to help protect England's nature and wildlife were unveiled today by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

A £750,000 campaign to increase conservation volunteering is being launched by Defra to help more people who want to do their bit for the natural environment and wildlife get involved in local projects.

Opportunities for volunteering could include creating and maintaining ponds, putting up bird and bat boxes, nature walks to count types of wildlife, or planting. Working with a range of voluntary organisations and other bodies, Defra will roll out the initiative in the coming months in partnership with the Department of Health's Change4Life campaign.

Defra is also giving more than £1million to a new fund to improve local recording of wildlife across England, giving people better access to information collected in different parts of the country.

The Defra Fund for Local Biodiversity Recording will boost the work of the National Biodiversity Network. Defra funding has already increased the number of local wildlife records publicly available from 8million in 2004 to more than 30 million this year.

Mr Benn was speaking at the launch of the biggest and most comprehensive survey of Britain's countryside and its natural resources, published today. The Countryside Survey maps changes to the landscape and wildlife habitats, showing where some species of plants that birds and insects feed on have increased or decreased.

Hilary Benn said: "Conserving biodiversity is not something government can do alone, and I want more people to have the opportunity to protect and take pride in their local wildlife and landscape.

"I value the work of local wildlife record centres and the Countryside Survey - the more we know about the state of our wildlife and habitats, the better equipped we are to come up with policies to look after them."

(JM)