Environmental Education ineligible under Darwin Plus

At the 2015 Gibraltar conference, a series of conclusions and recommendations were made to UK Government. One such recommendation concerned environmental education. Despite being a priority for the UKOTs and having been very productive in using earlier grants, this had been removed from eligibility in 2010. UKOTCF had pointed out on several occasions since to UK Government the perverse nature of this change, especially given UK’s commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2015 conference recommendation stated:

School open day at the Montserrat Botanic gardens; Copyright: Montserrat National Trust
School open day at the Montserrat Botanic gardens; Copyright: Montserrat National Trust

C2. Resources and funding opportunities

“13. UK Government should end urgently its 5-year block on grant-funding for environmental education and awareness for the UKOTs. (We recognise that consultants are expensive, but NGOs, like UKOTCF doing this work with local partners, are good value for money.) (To: UK Government) (13)”

In the recent Darwin Plus round (2017), this exclusion was removed and thus UKOT bodies could include activities in their projects, which were aimed in support of environmental education and awareness.