Environment

A two-week extension to the application window for the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) has been announced by Rural Secretary Fergus Ewing.

Applications can now be submitted until midnight on Tuesday 2 May 2017.

Previously published deadlines for Slurry Storage and Improving Public Access funding remain the same.

The Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick has shared proposals to create a National Marine Centre for Scotland.

Working with partners across the country, the new centre will transform the Seabird Centre to explore marine life above and below the waves - including seabirds. The project will cost around £5.5 million and focuses on delivering new and better education and conservation programmes at the Centre and nationwide. The National Marine Centre is a working title.

Scottish Rural Action have a number of volunteering opportunities available.

Scottish Rural Action (SRA) is a non-profit, apolitical organisation which is completely independent of Government. They are a company formed with the dual purpose of developing and organising Scotland’s Rural Parliament and supporting the development of a rural movement.

The organisation is currently seeking volunteers for a number of roles.

A new brochure highlights projects that have taken advantage of economic opportunities that are environmentally and socially sustainable.

The 'Transition to Greener Economies' project brochure has been published by the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) and is now available to download online.

You can now enter the Nature of Scotland Awards 2017 in nine categories including the Food and Farming Award and Marine Conservation Award.

These annual awards recognise and celebrate excellence, innovation and outstanding achievement in Scottish nature conservation.

The award categories are:

A forestry apprentice from Dumfries took home the top prize at Lantra Scotland's fifteenth Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards.

The European Innovation Partnership 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability' (EIP-AGRI) are looking for livestock farmers and forest managers to take part in two new Focus Groups.

The topics to be covered by the Focus Groups are:

A plan to drive forward and speed up tree planting in Scotland has been announced by Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.

The delivery plan covers a range of measures including:

A unique five-year projects is helping to increase volunteering in Scotland's National Parks.

The Mountains and the People Project launched in the summer of 2015, with the vision of involving the people of Scotland and beyond in the enhancement and protection of the wild and special qualities of the mountains within the country's two National Parks.