Graduates will have the opportunity to learn traditional environmental job skills in a project to protect some of the best-known landscapes in the UK.
A total of ?17 million of Heritage Lottery Fund cash will be used at 10 different areas across the country and will help to conserve the area's natural assets, such as grasslands, moorland and sand dunes.
People will be taught skills such as beekeeping, dry stone walling and hedge-laying as well as taking part in archaeological digs and surveying species.
Areas to benefit from the funding include the White Cliffs of Dover, the Mountains of Mourne and the wetlands of the Avalon Marshes in what is a boost to the graduate environmental jobs sector. Each area scheme must submit a detailed application to receive up to ?2 million.
Heritage Lottery Fund chairwoman Dame Jenny Abramsky said: "This significant investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund is important, particularly in the International Year of Biodiversity, because it not only encourages people to work together effectively but gives them a greater sense of involvement and connection to their own local landscape."
