Nature projects share £5 million cash boost - NatureScot

Rainforests, wildcats and threatened plants are among the projects benefiting from a £5.2 million cash boost from the Nature Restoration Fund.

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 and 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.