Conservationists working to save vital ecosystems in the Scottish Highlands say they are facing a multitude of long-term challenges such as depopulation and guaranteed sources of funding.
A growing number of local projects – from regenerative farm clusters to saving Scotland’s rainforests – are responding to the country’s nature crisis after centuries of human-driven deforestation and habitat depletion.
But fears are growing that the country will fail to meet its 2030 conservation targets, with campaigners saying the Scottish Government has cut nature spending by tens of millions of pounds over the last decade.
The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) – which is used to pay for community projects – saw £5 million diverted into funding wage settlements in Scotland’s local authorities earlier this year.
Conservationists are increasingly turning to the private sector for money, exploring options such as the nascent system of biodiversity credits and philanthropic grants – but these also come with barriers.
Sally McNaught, executive director of the Highlands & Islands Environment Foundation (HIEF), which funnels grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 to as many community-led projects as possible, said: “We always have more applications than money into the kitty.”
“But we definitely need to get more donors in so we can continue to do that and support more projects,” she said.
“These people are incredible. It’s actually very humbling to see what they’re happy to do and what they’re able to do.”
Several leaders behind projects supported by HIEF said their restoration work could take years, if not decades, to yield meaningful change.
Innes MacNeil, reserve manager at Alladale, a former sporting estate turned wildlife reserve in Sutherland, said: “We’ve abused the landscape for centuries, we’re not going to fix it in 25 years.”
MFI fortune heir Paul Lister bought the 23,000-acre estate in 2003 to restore nature across its rugged expanse of glens, mountains, woodlands and rivers.
The conservation work involving tree planting, peatland restoration and culling grazing deer has seen some of the vast landscape transform over the last two decades.
In a depopulating area, Alladale runs school programmes and has created more jobs through its restoration work but it still relies heavily on Mr Lister’s investment.
Mr MacNeil said: “We are lucky to have someone who is continuing to invest in the landscape. He is a caretaker, he is looking after it.”
But the reserve manager added that Mr Lister is here for “a very short period of time” in the grand scheme of things.
“We’re just going to do what we can and hopefully future generations will continue the work,” he said.
In the nearby village of Ardgay, a newly established tree nursery is recruiting young volunteers to inspire local children and teenagers to engage in nature.
The project, launched this past spring, aims to plant trees along Highland rivers to cool the water, protecting endangered salmon populations and boosting biodiversity in the wider habitat.
While many young people at school-leaving age feel they have to leave the area due to a lack of job opportunities, its manager Marie Le Nepveu Stratton said: “We actually want to showcase that’s not the case. There is hope. We need you here. There’s all this work to do.”
On the west coast, the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest has been supporting projects to save these humid yet temperate woodlands, which are home to a range of precious lichens, mosses and liverwort species.
Only 30,000 hectares of these globally rare rainforests remain in Scotland as nitrogen pollution, climate change, invasive rhododendron species, ash die-back, invasive species and high numbers of grazing deer drive their decline.
“It’s in trouble. It’s in big trouble actually,” said Julie Stoneman, Saving Scotland’s Rainforest project manager.
The conservation group is supporting eight community-led projects, covering 15% of the rainforest zone, although it needs about 25 of these initiatives to save Scotland’s rainforests.
Short-term and small-scale grants support the work but uncertainty remains when it comes to longer-term funding, Ms Stoneman said.
The conservationists have called on ministers to set up a rainforest restoration fund and are exploring natural capital finance but neither have yet yielded a silver-bullet solution.
“Scottish Government coffers are practically empty,” Ms Stoneman said. “We still haven’t found this holy grail of long-term substantial funding.”
She added: “These are very sparsely populated areas. We need to make sure the rainforest itself can provide economic and social benefits (so) it’s good for tourism, it brings in jobs.”
The creation of local rainforest “squads” that remove rhododendrons, collect seeds and run tree nurseries have helped to create jobs for young people in areas such as the Morvern peninsula.
Ellen Bird, who is part of the Morvern team, said their squad is currently funded by RSPB Scotland but the hope is that it can evolve into a local enterprise.
“The only way a project like this is going to be successful is if you involve the local people and we’re doing that in a really genuine way here it feels, and by creating local employment as well, it’s really bringing people in,” she said.
Back towards the east coast, Christopher Swift from South Clunes farm near Kirkhill, Inverness, said they were looking to receive a £250,000 grant from the NRF but now they have to look for the funding elsewhere.
The farm is part of the West Loch Ness Farm cluster – a group of close-by farms supported by HIEF which are working together to create landscape-scale nature benefits by building wetlands, establishing hedgerows and tree alleys, and supporting species such as bees, beavers and barn owls.
“The biodiversity is delightful,” Mr Swift said, adding that what a little bit of money can do is “nuts”. Like others, he described the decision to cut funding from the NRF as “so disappointing”.
The farmer said biodiversity and climate credits may be an option but the market is “not there yet” but he would consider accepting “Judas money” from energy companies putting pylons up across the area.
The Scottish Government recently launched a plan to attract private investment into natural capital markets, including guidance for investors, land managers and communities on attracting private money into nature restoration.
Acting Net Zero Secretary Gillian Martin said: “Restoring Scotland’s natural environment is vital to addressing the twin challenges of nature loss and climate change.”
Scotland’s NRF has committed more than £50 million since 2021 “to unlock the full potential that nature restoration projects can bring to communities”, she added.
“We take the responsibility for restoring nature and reducing our emissions seriously – but it is abundantly clear that to meet the scale of the challenge, we need private investors to share the load,” she said.
