Over £125,000 additional funding has been allocated to protect landscape, habitats and species in Northern Ireland.

Ten not-for-profit organisations and councils will share the £125,600 Natural Environment Fund for varied projects ranging from raptor studies for the region's birds of prey to wildfire initiatives.

This is in addition to £1.25 million funding already allocated to the fund last year from carrier bag receipts.

Martin Carey, Chief Executive of the Mourne Heritage Trust, which received £149,000 from the £1.25m Natural Environment Fund in 2015, said: "The award of funding from the Natural Environment Fund (NEF) ensured that Mourne Heritage Trust could proceed to implement the practical aspects of a range of initiatives planned and researched under NIEA's previous Natural Heritage Grants Programme.

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"This included further progressing our schedule of targeted controlled burns – conducted in association with Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service – which help to reduce 'fuel load' at critical control points in the landscape and enhance the resilience of the landscape against wildfire incidents.

"To complement this, we were able to pilot a range of approaches to restoring to favourable condition parts of the upland heath habitat from which the high Mournes takes its European conservation designation and to propagate the genetically distinct and endangered Mourne juniper plant."

(CD/JP)