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Highlands and Islands Environmental Foundation charity aims to encourage and fund community-based projects by partnering with local groups to develop nature-based solutions for environmental challenges


By Ian Duncan

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Tom Rawson has been making bird boxes to sell and donate money to the NHS with his wife Emma and 3 sons Fergus age 8, Hector age 6 and Lochie age 4.
Tom Rawson has been making bird boxes to sell and donate money to the NHS with his wife Emma and 3 sons Fergus age 8, Hector age 6 and Lochie age 4.

A new environmental charity has launched across the Highlands and Islands with the aim of encouraging community-based projects which will restore and regenerate the area’s natural beauty.

The Highlands and Islands Environmental Foundation (HIEF) will help to fund projects by partnering with communities and local groups to develop nature-based solutions for environmental challenges.

Ahead of the launch, organisers managed to raise more than £100,000 over the past year and hope to raise hundreds of thousands more over the next few years from individual donors and businesses.

The first four projects which will receive grants are: Highland Primary School Birdbox Project, The Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot, Lochaline Native Oyster Restoration and The Alliance for Saving Scotland’s Rainforest.

The birdbox project will supply the 175 primary schools across the Highlands with 10 birdboxes each over a four-year period.

Project lead and primary school teacher Tom Rawson will build and deliver each box.

The boxes are built from sustainable and recycled materials and will be accompanied by teaching resources, links to a website and social media, in accordance with RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology best practice.

It aims to inspire local school children to learn about the natural world on their doorstep, while also providing nesting opportunities for threatened native birds.

Mr Rawson said: “We are lucky to live in a country where our cities, towns and villages are surrounded by wild places.

“The aim of this project is to bring these wild places to the playgrounds of schoolchildren across the region. With the help of the HIEF, I hope to inspire those children to become the future guardians of our nation’s precious wildlife.”

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