The local nature conservation initiative, Lona, is a grant from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency that will enable municipalities and non-profit associations throughout Sweden to implement projects in the areas of nature conservation, outdoor life and public health.
- Working with this is great fun because the grant is useful in many places and pleases many people in, for example, small interest groups that otherwise could not implement the efforts, states Mikael Pettersson who is the County Administrative Board's coordinator.
It is the County Administrative Board that processes and approves the applications that come in.
In Västerbotten, according to him, about two thirds of the grant is focused on outdoor life.
Within the framework of Lona, there is also a special investment in wetlands and one in pollination.
In total in Sweden, approximately 3,000 different Lona projects have been implemented over the past 15 years, and the budget from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has in recent years been approximately SEK 50 million per year.
Important with nature around the corner
This year, for example, Skellefteå has been granted six different projects.
- We notice an increased interest in nature in the local environment.
When we have not been able to move as freely, the nature around the knot has become more important, says Skellefteå's municipal ecologist Johanna Engström.
One of the projects is that the association Burträskbygden's development, BBU, wants to recreate coastal meadows close to urban areas.
Sheep should simply fix to the view for residents and tourists.
You can meet the Sly eaters, who are everything from Gotland sheep to Dutch Texel sheep and the South African meat breed Dorper, in the clip.