Published Tuesday, 17 January 2012
The money will help local environmental charities complete more than 40 community schemes over the next three months.
Wildlife including Bats in Londonderry, red squirrels in Fermanagh and seabirds in Strangford Lough will all benefit.
Meanwhile other projects are aimed at decreasing wildfires in the Belfast Hills constructing weirs in the Dun River in the Causeway Coast and Glens, and managing woodland at the Crom Estate in Co Fermanagh.
Environment Minister Alex Attwood said: "I am delighted with the level of interest and the quality of the proposals.
"This is a fantastic programme which challenged local environmental charities to devise and deliver projects on a very short timescale.
"It is good to be able to congratulate the groups on meeting the 'challenge' set by my Environment Agency."
The department said the programme "demonstrates the immediate demand" for environmental projects, adding that if successful it could be repeated in the future.