This is one of the first UK projects receiving support through Amazon’s $100 million Right Now Climate Fund. With €20 million committed to projects across the UK and Europe, the fund has been set up to conserve, restore and improve forests, wetlands and grasslands, protecting wildlife habitats, biodiversity and quality of life for communities.

The available grant will enable authorities – and other owners and managers of London’s local wildlife sites – to plan, deliver and manage programmes which seek to address wildlife decline caused by the significant pressure of development, pollution, and climate change on London’s green spaces.

London’s woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and other delicate habitats – that sit at the heart of how we tackle the increasingly urgent climate emergency within the bounds of our city. As well as being vitally important for supporting viable populations of wild fauna, flora and fungi, these spaces also help to keep London cool, providing shade and protection from flooding, and aiding our individual wellbeing. The restoration of these key habitats  create new homes build the foundations for for animals such as butterflies, and water vole as well as birds like tawny owl, swift and skylark, as well as laying the foundation for possible future reintroduction of creatures that once called London their home.

With more than 1,600 local wildlife sites in London, the Rewild London Fund seeks to ensure they are improved, expanded and better connected through habitat enhancement, restoration and creation in order to help create a nature recovery network.

Phase II of the fund continues this hugely popular programme, bringing together the leadership of the Mayor with the expert guidance of London Wildlife Trust, with delivery support from Groundworks. The fund will offer grants ranging between £10,000 and £50,000 as well as welcoming bids from projects between £50,000 and £100,000, for work completed by March 2024.

Round one of the Rewild London Fund supported 19 projects to enhance London’s most valuable wildlife sites. Projects included the reintroduction of grazing cattle in Enfield; water voles in Kingston’s Hogsmill River; the creation of new chalk grassland habitats for butterflies in Sutton; and working with the Zoological Society of London to help London’s hedgehogs thrive.

“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, said Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for the Environment. “We want to build a better and greener London for everyone and the Rewild London Fund is helping us to make that a reality.”

“The London Wildlife Trust has a history of science-based and community-focused work that has a meaningful and lasting impact on biodiversity in the UK,” said Zak Watts, Director of Europe Sustainability, Amazon. “Alongside co-founding the Climate Pledge in 2019 and making a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040, we are making significant contributions to nature-based solutions help restore and preserve the natural world. We are proud to be supporting the London Wildlife Trust as one of our first UK Right Now Climate Fund commitments and are eager to see the results round two of the Rewild London Fund brings to London.”

“If we in London are to reverse the dramatic decline in many wildlife species and bring about nature's recovery for the benefit of both biodiversity and people, we must support and encourage every effort to improve our natural green spaces’ ecological resilience and connectivity, said Mathew Frith, Director of Research and Policy at London Wildlife Trust.  "Phase II of the Rewild London Fund will enable us to continue to build on the good work of the fund to date and deliver significant environmental and social benefits to the communities receiving this support. We hope that successful projects will help to provide further evidence that a wilder London is better for all of us."

Gordon Scorer, Chief Executive of London Wildlife Trust said: “We are delighted to launch, in partnership with the Mayor of London, the second round of the Rewild London Fund, which has been made possible by £750,000 investment from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund. Nature-based solutions must lie at the heart of how we tackle the effects of climate change in our city, and this is a real opportunity to bring about lasting, positive change for nature and people in London.”

Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund has invested in a reforestation programme in Italy, Parco Italia; an urban greening programme in Germany; a forest conservation and restoration project in the US Appalachian Mountains; and the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Through the fund, Amazon supports projects that drive tangible environmental and social benefits such as job creation and access to nature.

To find out more visit wildlondon.org.uk/rewildlondon