Nature projects share £5 million cash boost

NatureScot has awarded grants to 13 projects to help reverse nature loss and tackle the impacts of climate change across the country, including in the Highlands, the Lothians and Dumfries and Galloway.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has been awarded just over £400,000 to build on the success of the Saving Wildcats partnership. The funding will support a fragile new Cairngorms-based population of wildcats on their journey to recovery by tackling threats and continuing releases – helping to secure the future for wildcats in Scotland.

Ardtornish, in southwest Morvern, will use their £600,000 grant to help restore 12,000 hectares of upland, rainforest and coastal habitat through their Tir Àlainn na Mara (Beautiful land of the sea) project. They will work with partners to connect and enhance habitats from summit to seabed using techniques such as innovative drone seeding and conservation grazing trials.

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has been granted £491,000 to further extend its ambitious Scottish Plant Recovery Project. The funding will support the team in their continued efforts to restore ten threatened plant species by creating large, genetically diverse seed banks and planting them out, with the support of landowners, at carefully selected sites across Scotland.

Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands will use their £68,817 grant to establish a Wood Wide Network. Working with local communities, they’ll identify areas to create a network of woodlands, improving the extent, quality, connectivity and value of native woodland across southwest Scotland.

More than £65 million has been awarded through the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund since its launch in 2021, including to over 250 projects through the competitive scheme run by NatureScot.

Climate Action Secretary Gillian Martin said:

“Sustained investment is a key condition for the success of our Biodiversity Strategy’s aim of protecting Scotland's natural environment, addressing biodiversity loss, nature restoration and climate change. That is why we have extended the NRF to ensure that there is no delay in our efforts. The projects receiving this additional funding will, of course, benefit local areas and wildlife by restoring the environment and supporting green jobs and skills development, but they will also help us in the global fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.

“I look forward to seeing the results of nature restoration from these 13 projects.”

NatureScot Chair Professor Colin Galbraith said:

“We are incredibly heartened to see the energy, enthusiasm and commitment that so many people are showing towards restoring Scotland’s nature, and we are proud to be supporting these vital projects.

“We are amid a nature and climate crisis, but by working together and taking positive action for nature now, we can have real hope for the future.”