No Money To Save The Environment

Just as world leaders and all our political parties are finally facing up to global warning, funding to the groups delivering on green issues on the ground is drying up. That is why the Stroud Valleys Project, a registered charity which has been doing just that with public and private funding and the help of local volunteers for almost 20 years, is this week launching an appeal for £75,000 in order to stay alive.

Government rhetoric is saying one thing. But from the department in charge of the environment to its quangos to the national lottery, it seems the money is no longer there to save and nurture green spaces, wildlife or a sustainable countryside. Recent work in the Severn Vale neatly illustrates the contradictions between government words and action. SVP is working with 18 farmers there in a ground-breaking new project which is helping farmers, schools, parish councils and communities in twelve parishes to protect wildlife and its habitats. It is a direct contribution to the Environment Dcpartment policy to subsidise farmers who create wildlife-rich areas on their land.

Nature works slowly so it needs to be a ten-year project, but after four years the funding from environment quango, Natural England, has come to an end with no indication as to whether or not the grant fund will continue. Defra (Dept. of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs), which has seen its own cash-flow drained by floods, bird flu and a Euro farm subsidy mix-up, has cut Natural England’s funding so that it is having to make brutal cuts to its own staff - and to funding for environmental groups.

Just a couple of years ago there was a funding gap for six months while relevant quangos were rethought, merged and their staffs reorganised; the funding rules keep changing; and then there is the question of whether National Lottery and other funds are being redirected towards the 2012 Olympics. And meanwhile all funders insist that they only want to fund the projects, not the core staff who are indispensable to any well-run charity. Funders also don’t want to fund existing projects, no matter how successful, preferring to fund new and ‘innovative’ ones.

Yet Stroud Valleys Project has been consistently delivering successful projects which regularly over-achieve on their targets, getting more and more people involved in saving the environment and turning more and more of the Stroud district environmentally-friendly.

With the help of Stroud Valleys Project:
Volunteers are turning an area of land equivalent to 4 football pitches in size into refuges for wildlife
nearly 1000 adults and children learnt about and helped the local environment during 2006 and 2007
local people planted or restored 4 miles of hedgerow during 2006 and 2007
local people planted over 1,500 trees during 2006 and 2007
volunteers have discovered rare habitats and places where rare species are living that are unknown to conservationists
18 farmers in the Severn Vale are creating special wildlife places on their land as part of our ground breaking new project which is helping farmers, schools, parish councils and communities in 12 parishes to protect wildlife
In 1999, Clare Gerbrands set up the Stroud Farmers Market
the community radio station Cam FM was set up, which still broadcasting programmes every October to residents of Cam, Dursley and the surrounding parishes getting them involved in their local community and with helping the environment
In 1997, we helped a group of local people to set up Energy 21, a charity which is now a national one campaigning for better use of renewable energy to combat climate change
Students with learning disabilities, people recovering from mental health problems and visually impaired people have all been able to take an active part in learning about, and helping, the environment thanks to special schemes organised by Stroud Valleys Project.

Stroud Valleys Project wants to continue and expand on its successful work of 20 years, begun in a time when environmental concerns were low on most people’s agenda. But the organisation is now facing the paradox of closure at the very time when calls to save the environment are at their loudest. If the money isn’t raised, then the organisation will have to close at the end of the summer at the very time when its experience can help local people make a real difference.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Caroline Aistrop
Telephone: 01453 753358 or 07894-663436
Fax: 01453 755641
Email: caistrop@stroudvalleysproject.org
Website: www.StroudValleysProject.org

The public can help Stroud Valleys Project by:
· Sending a donation by cheque (made payable to Stroud Valleys Project) to Stroud Valleys Project, 8, Threadneedle Street, Stroud. GL2 3SB, marking the envelope ‘Appeal’
· Give a donation in cash by visiting Stroud Valleys Project’s office in person
· Becoming a ‘Friend of Stroud Valleys Project’ for an annual sum. Call 01453-753358 or email info@stroudvalleysproject.org for more details.
· Giving some of their time to help run the appeal.
Stroud Valleys Project’s charity number is 900107 – if possible, please could you quote this when describing how people can help (Charity Commission advice).

We were set up in February 1988 by people of Stroud to help them be pro-active in caring for their local environment. Although we initially concentrated on Stroud and its 5 valleys, our horizons have since broadened to encompass the whole of the Stroud district and we’ve been active in Cam for 10 years this year, and in the Severn Vale for 4 years.

The aim of Stroud Valleys Project is to protect and enhance the local environment by working with local communities to embrace sustainable development and biodiversity, and so make the Stroud district a better, healthier place in which to live for both present and future generations.

This release was published on openPR.