Nature charities and asylum seekers expand environmental partnership with £1.62m funding

A partnership between refugee charities and wildlife trusts has secured £1.62m in National Lottery funding to expand environmental volunteering for asylum seekers across England and Wales.

• Action Asylum has secured £1.62m from the National Lottery’s climate action fund for a three-year expansion.
• The charity will run 120 large-scale climate events and work with over 3,000 volunteers in areas including Sheffield, Newcastle, and Bolton.
• Asylum seekers and volunteers have been clearing invasive Himalayan balsam from riverbanks in north Wales as part of the programme.
• Emma Leaper, Action Asylum project director, said the funding allows them to bring people together in nature on a scale never previously possible.