Paul Sizeland & Leah Reinfranck - Nature finance supporting rivers and communities, “Source to Sea”

Paul Sizeland and Leah Reinfranck
Paul Sizeland joined Fisheries Management Scotland in May last year as the Director of Nature Finance. Paul’s role focuses on leading and supporting initiatives to stimulate the provision of nature finance in support of FMS’ members’ delivery of river restoration activities, and that address pressures on the freshwater environment. Prior to joining FMS, Paul worked at NatureScot where he led on the development of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.
Leah Reinfranck joined Fisheries Management Scotland in January 2024, first as a Nature Finance Intern and now serves as a Nature Finance Project Officer. During her internship, Leah supported Paul in a FIRNS-funded project to develop a Source to Sea fund, which would aim to support restoration work throughout the freshwater and into the marine environment.
In this presentation, Paul and Leah discuss the importance of nature finance in supporting the restoration of our rivers and the species that rely on them. They highlight recent government strategies and initiatives that emphasise the need for investment in nature, and introduce a protect funded by the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS), which aims to develop a national river restoration fund. The talk discusses the importance of incorporating community benefits and inclusion into these projects, and outline recommendations for achieving this. Looking to the next stage of the project, Paul and Leah present a financial dashboard demonstrating the scale of investment needed across Scotland and the potential for developing a pipeline of investment ready projects.