About FINCH

Facilitating Investment in Natural Clun Habitats (FINCH) aims to research and develop if, and how, a future Protected Site Strategy (PSS) for the river Clun catchment can leverage private finance investment and enterprise solutions to help address the pressures on the Clun Special Area of Conservation (SAC). 

The project has a particular focus on research to understand how a future PPS could be developed with farmers and land managers to achieve both realistic and ambitious agricultural transition to low polluting land management systems. Changes to local planning policies, private sector supply chain procurement priorities and government incentive schemes are all in scope for the study and recommendations for a future Protected Site Strategy in the area.

The successful contractor will be expected to:

• Investigate the scale and form of a future market place for ecosystem functions for the Clun
• Establish how farmers in the Clun catchment can play a part in the development of trading models that are under development in the wider area, involving both local and national partners.
• Investigate the influence a future Protected Site Strategy can have by testing the Landscape Transformation thinking, which underpins the Green Commerce Manual that is part of the initial Advisory Guidance developed last year.

Please see attached files below for full details and timings, including the Green Commerce Manual.