REWILDING EUROPE (NCFF)

Intermediated loan to a special purpose financial intermediary, providing loans to probiodiversity businesses, including commercial conservation projects

The project aims to support small businesses in rural areas that will have a positive impact on restoring landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity.

In Europe's countryside, rural land abandonment and certain land-use changes have lead to a rapid decline in species, biodiversity and natural ecosystems. In particular, populations of many species (mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, plants) dependent on open and half-open (mosaic) landscapes are declining, partly due to a loss of their habitat. Socioeconomically, land abandonment is reducing experienced labour forces and employment prospects are worsening, resulting in rural areas becoming less economically productive. This operation will seek to reverse some of these damaging trends by restoring, maintaining, and enhancing these mosaic landscapes and their biodiversity, and returning them to a state of ecological health and biodynamic balance which can support the substantial recovery and comeback of wildlife species across Europe. This operation will engage socioeconomic activities reliant on opportunities created by this habitat recovery and resultant wildlife comeback, which in turn can be structured to support the sustainability of these natural recovery processes. These operations may take place in Natura 2000 sites. This operation will support Target 2 of the Biodiversity Strategy. The relevant baseline biodiversity/ecosystem LIFE indicators will be included in the contractual framework with the financial intermediary and the final recipients and will be reported on.

The financial intermediary's investment guidelines will be required to ensure that procurement procedures applied by the underlying investments financed by the Fund are in line with the provisions of the EU Procurement Directive. Details will be verified during appraisal.