Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund

Duration: November 2025

Background

Our NEIRF Round 3 Project (Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund) aims to develop a revenue or investment-ready model focused on environmental improvement on farm land within the Upper Irwell catchment area. The main activities involve engaging with farmers and landowners to implement natural flood management (NFM) interventions and habitat restoration. This project is all about making our region more climate-resilient, especially when it comes to flooding, which will benefit communities downstream. We’re also focused on creating green jobs by building skills in NFM. We’re partnering with great organizations like the Environment Agency, GMCA, Natural England, and more to make it happen.

Our objectives

  1. Capacity and Capability Building: Enhance the capacity of local stakeholders, including farmers and landowners, through targeted engagement and training initiatives. This objective is aimed at building long-term sustainability for NFM practices.
  2. Implementation of NFM Interventions: Identify, design, and implement NFM interventions on selected sites. These activities will contribute to flood risk reduction and improve the ecological health of the catchment area.
  3. Development of Revenue Models: Create viable revenue models by securing commitments from buyers of environmental benefits and investors.

Expected outcomes

  • Environmental Benefits: Improved flood resilience and enhanced biodiversity through the restoration of natural habitats and implementation of NFM techniques.
  • Economic and Social Impact: Creation of jobs and increased community engagement in environmental stewardship, leading to a more resilient and connected local community.
  • Innovation and Learning: Development of new techniques and methods for engaging investors and matching buyers with sellers of environmental benefits, with plans to capture and disseminate learnings to facilitate scalability and replication of the model.

For more information on the project and to explore resources like the Green Finance Institute’s Toolkit for Farmers, please contact Aimee Brough, Partnerships Manager, via email or by calling 07977 192 461.

Contact

This project has been made possible thanks to funding from Defra.

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