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BBC News
08-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Conservationists fight to restore UK rainforests
A new programme has been launched to help conservationists in the UK protect the UK's last remaining temperate rainforests are rare habitats that exist in cooler parts of the world, near to the sea, and have ancient woodlands, high rainfall and a fifth of the UK used to be made up of these ancient woodlands, but now just 1% of the UK is, after the trees were chopped down for timber and a new £38.9 million, 100-year programme has been organised by the Wildlife Trusts, to try to restore 1,755 hectares (4,337 acres) of rainforest along the Atlantic coastline, from Cornwall to Scotland, including Wales, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The team say that restoring these ancient woodlands can also help to tackle the effects of climate change, by storing carbon and reducing flooding caused by increasingly heavy Cummins, co-ordinator of the temperate rainforest programme at the Wildlife Trusts, said: "The aim is to go beyond traditional habitat restoration, creating entirely new rainforest.""Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security," she also said the scheme would only target land that was not valuable for growing food. The programme has nine sites so far, with seven locations announced, including Skiddaw in Cumbria, where the aim is to plant 300,000 trees over 270 hectares and restore around 400 hectares of y Cowin, on the Isle of Man, was the first site to plant trees in the programme, and in Devon, more than 7,000 trees have been planted at Bowden Pillars, to create a new rainforest close to existing ancient are also hoping the temperate rainforests can become safe habitats for woodland creatures such as hazel dormice, pine martins and the blue ground beetle.
The Independent
05-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Linking Britain's rainforests could ensure their survival amid climate crisis, experts say
Scaling up and linking areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands, is crucial to ensuring they and the wildlife they support can survive in the face of climate change, conservationists say. Wildlife experts describe temperate rainforest – a globally rare habitat that once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man – as the 'jewel in the crown' of the country's landscapes. However, these habitats are now a pale shadow of their former selves, with their area shrinking from a fifth to just 1 per cent in the UK as they are cleared for timber, commercial forestry and agriculture. They are now found only in fragments that face multiple threats, including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures which put their unique micro-climate at risk. Conservationists are fighting to restore and expand the last remaining fragments of the UK's rare temperate rainforest as climate change looms. Restoring these ancient woodlands can also play a role in tackling climate change, storing carbon and reducing run-off and flooding caused by increasingly heavy rainstorms, they argue. Efforts underway include a £38.9 million, 100-year programme by the Wildlife Trusts, funded by insurance giant Aviva, to restore 1,755 hectares (4,337 acres) of rainforest along the Atlantic coastline, from Cornwall to Scotland, including Wales, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The Wildlife Trusts is also taking a rainforest garden to Chelsea Flower Show, which they have announced will be rehomed at the Bristol Zoo Project after the world famous horticultural event, in an effort to raise awareness of the rare habitat. Tara Cummins, co-ordinator of the Aviva temperate rainforest programme at the Wildlife Trusts, which is working with local and national wildlife trusts to deliver the scheme, said: 'The aim is to go beyond traditional habitat restoration, creating entirely new rainforest.' Ms Cummins said temperate rainforests needed 'incredibly specific conditions to grow', with steady temperatures and a good level of rainfall. But she said: 'With climate change those conditions are found in less and less areas.' So expanding the habitat – and linking up with existing patches of rainforest – is key to ensure the woods and their wildlife can survive the changing climate. The programme comes at a time of debate over the use of land, with pressure for food security, development, nature restoration, climate targets and energy. But Ms Cummins said the scheme was targeting only land that was not valuable for food production, such as heavily degraded land, which had been sitting on the market for several years. And she said: 'Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security,' with the woodlands storing carbon and slowing the flow of water to curb flooding. The programme has nine sites so far, with seven locations already announced, including Skiddaw in Cumbria, which will eventually look to plant 300,000 trees over 270 hectares and restore around 400 hectares of blanket bog. Elsewhere, Creg y Cowin, on the Isle of Man, was the first site to plant trees in the programme. And in Devon, more than 7,000 trees have been planted at Bowden Pillars on the edges of the Dart river valley this winter, to create new rainforest close to existing examples of the ancient wooded landscape. Not far away, a temperate rainforest nature reserve in the Dart Valley, managed by Devon Wildlife Trust, shows how rich the habitat can be. Even in early spring before the trees come into leaf, the woodlands hugging the hills around the Dart are a bright green, with rocks, tree trunks and branches festooned with mosses, liverworts and ferns and an array of lichen. The river is home to rare brown trout and otters, while birds including redstart, pied flycatchers and red-listed lesser spotted woodpeckers are also found here, along with adders, hazel dormice and common lizards. Pine martens have been reintroduced in the area, and it is one of only a handful of sites that is home to the blue ground beetle. Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at Devon Wildlife Trust, said temperate rainforest such as in the Dart valley is 'the jewel in the crown of habitats we've got in the country, but they're so much smaller, a pale shadow of their former selves'. He said there was a need for a critical mass of rainforest to create a healthy habitat in the face of recent severe droughts and damaging floods, and future predictions that these will worsen. 'Scale is so important,' he said, with larger and more complex woodlands more resilient and more likely to return to health than smaller, isolated patches, while rare and threatened wildlife would be able to find niches in larger woods to better weather climate-driven weather extremes. 'The precious and fragile areas which remain need to be increased in size, their condition improved, and fragmented woodlands joined up to ensure they are resilient and can thrive long into the future,' he said. The rainforest project is part of a £100 million programme by Aviva of projects in the UK and Ireland using nature to tackle climate change, and it is expected to remove 800,000 tonnes of emissions over 100 years. Claudine Blamey, chief sustainability officer with Aviva, said: 'This seemed like an amazing project to actually reinstate temperate rainforests across the west side of the UK, and to bring back that diversity that isn't there, such an important biodiversity, that the UK will benefit from as climate starts to change, as we start to see more and more impacts from climate change.' She said it was 'logic' as an insurance company to understand the role nature could play in protecting habitats, homes, areas and communities, and to use it to help with the worsening impacts of climate change. Natural solutions, such as restoring habitat, could be part of the solution to issues such as flooding, she said.
Scotsman
05-05-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
Scotland included in £40m project to connect rainforest habitat along UK coastline
The nature programme is being funded by insurance giant Aviva. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland's remaining rainforests are being included in UK-wide action plan to expand the rare habitat across Britain's coast. Wildlife groups have said temperate rainforest once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But research from groups, including the Wildlife Trust, shows the area of the UK covered by these woodlands has shrunk from a fifth to 1 per cent with land being cleared for farming or planted for timber. Temperate rainforest is now found only in fragments that conservationists say are at risk of multiple threats including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures. Scotland's rainforests are home to a host of rare species According to Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest (ASR), which is supported by Woodland Trust Scotland, some 30,000 hectares remain in Scotland, which is about 2 per cent of Scotland's woodland cover. Conservationists said scaling up and connecting areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands and species that grow in them, is important for climate change mitigation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Efforts under way include a £38.9 million, 100-year programme by the Wildlife Trusts, funded by insurance giant Aviva, to establish 1,755 hectares (4,337 acres) of rainforest along the Atlantic coastline, from Cornwall to Scotland. Tara Cummins, co-ordinator of the Aviva temperate rainforest programme at the Wildlife Trusts, which is working with local and national wildlife trusts to deliver the scheme, said: 'The aim is to go beyond traditional habitat restoration, creating entirely new rainforest.' The company has listed nine UK sites so far, with none confirmed in Scotland to date. The funding is part of a £100m programme by Aviva of projects in UK and Ireland using nature to tackle climate change. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The company said the project is expected to remove 800,000 tonnes of emissions over 100 years. Ms Cummins said temperate rainforests needed 'incredibly specific conditions to grow', with steady temperatures and a good level of rainfall. But she said: 'With climate change those conditions are found in less and less areas.' So expanding the habitat – and linking up with existing patches of rainforest – is key to ensure the woods and their wildlife can survive the changing climate. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The programme comes at a time of debate over the use of land, with pressure for food security, development, nature restoration, climate targets and energy. Ms Cummins said the scheme was targeting only land that was not valuable for food production, such as heavily degraded land, which had been sitting on the market for several years. She added: 'Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security,' with the woodlands storing carbon and slowing the flow of water to curb flooding. According to ASR, Scotland's rainforest suffers from two significant threats - overgrazing and invasive non native species, particularly Rhododendron ponticum. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Areas that have remains of temperate rainforest include parts of the west Highlands, Argyll and Knoydart. ASR has previously hailed Knoydart as an 'excellent example of community-led, landscape-scale rainforest restoration and expansion'.
Western Telegraph
04-05-2025
- General
- Western Telegraph
‘Scale is so important' – the fight to revive Britain's vanishing rainforests
Wildlife experts describe temperate rainforest – a globally rare habitat that once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man – as the 'jewel in the crown' of the country's landscapes but warn they are a pale shadow of their former selves. The area of Britain covered by these woodlands has shrunk from a fifth to just 1%, cleared for timber, commercial forestry and agriculture. They are now found only in fragments that face multiple threats including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures which put their unique micro-climate at risk. Even in early spring, the Dart valley woodlands are green with moss and ferns (Emily Beament/PA) Conservationists say scaling up and connecting areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands and species that grow in them, is crucial to making sure they and the wildlife they support can survive in the face of climate change. Restoring these ancient woodlands can also play a role in tackling climate change, storing carbon and reducing run-off and flooding caused by increasingly heavy rainstorms, they argue. Efforts under way include a £38.9 million, 100-year programme by the Wildlife Trusts, funded by insurance giant Aviva, to restore 1,755 hectares (4,337 acres) of rainforest along the Atlantic coastline, from Cornwall to Scotland, including Wales, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The Wildlife Trusts is also taking a rainforest garden to Chelsea Flower Show, which they have announced will be rehomed at the Bristol Zoo Project after the world famous horticultural event, in an effort to raise awareness of the rare habitat. Tara Cummins, co-ordinator of the Aviva temperate rainforest programme at the Wildlife Trusts, which is working with local and national wildlife trusts to deliver the scheme, said: 'The aim is to go beyond traditional habitat restoration, creating entirely new rainforest.' Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security Tara Cummins, Wildlife Trusts Ms Cummins said temperate rainforests needed 'incredibly specific conditions to grow', with steady temperatures and a good level of rainfall. But she said: 'With climate change those conditions are found in less and less areas.' So expanding the habitat – and linking up with existing patches of rainforest – is key to ensure the woods and their wildlife can survive the changing climate. The programme comes at a time of debate over the use of land, with pressure for food security, development, nature restoration, climate targets and energy. But Ms Cummins said the scheme was targeting only land that was not valuable for food production, such as heavily degraded land, which had been sitting on the market for several years. And she said: 'Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security,' with the woodlands storing carbon and slowing the flow of water to curb flooding. Temperate rainforest is rich in mosses, liverworts and ferns (Emily Beament/PA) The programme has nine sites so far, with seven locations already announced, including Skiddaw in Cumbria, which will eventually look to plant 300,000 trees over 270 hectares and restore around 400 hectares of blanket bog. Elsewhere, Creg y Cowin, on the Isle of Man, was the first site to plant trees in the programme. And in Devon, more than 7,000 trees have been planted at Bowden Pillars on the edges of the Dart river valley this winter, to create new rainforest close to existing examples of the ancient wooded landscape. Not far away, a temperate rainforest nature reserve in the Dart Valley managed by Devon Wildlife Trust shows how rich the habitat can be. Even in early spring before the trees come into leaf, the woodlands hugging the hills around the Dart are a bright green, with rocks, tree trunks and branches festooned with mosses, liverworts and ferns and an array of lichen. The precious and fragile areas which remain need to be increased in size Peter Burgess, Devon Wildlife Trust The river is home to rare brown trout and otters, while birds including red start, pied flycatchers and red-listed lesser spotted woodpeckers are also found here, along with adders, hazel dormice and common lizards. Pine martens have been reintroduced in the area, and it is one of only a handful of sites that is home to the blue ground beetle. Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at Devon Wildlife Trust, said temperate rainforest such as in the Dart valley is 'the jewel in the crown of habitats we've got in the country, but they're so much smaller, a pale shadow of their former selves'. He said there was a need for a critical mass of rainforest to create healthy habitat in the face of recent severe droughts and damaging floods, and future predictions that these will worsen. 'Scale is so important,' he said, with larger and more complex woodlands more resilient and more likely to return to health than smaller, isolated patches, while rare and threatened wildlife would be able to find niches in larger woods to better weather climate-driven weather extremes. 'The precious and fragile areas which remain need to be increased in size, their condition improved, and fragmented woodlands joined up to ensure they are resilient and can thrive long into the future,' he said. Temperate rainforests are home to many species of lichen (Emily Beament/PA) The rainforest project is part of a £100 million programme by Aviva of projects in UK and Ireland using nature to tackle climate change and it is expected to remove 800,000 tonnes of emissions over 100 years. Claudine Blamey, chief sustainability officer with Aviva, said: 'This seemed like an amazing project to actually reinstate temperate rainforests across the west side of the UK, and to bring back that diversity that isn't there, such an important biodiversity, that the UK will benefit from as climate starts to change, as we start to see more and more impacts from climate change.' She said it was 'logic' as an insurance company to understand the role nature could play in protecting habitats, homes, areas and communities, and to use it to help with the worsening impacts of climate change. Natural solutions such as restoring habitat could be part of the solution to issues such as flooding, she said.
The Independent
04-05-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
‘Scale is so important' – the fight to revive Britain's vanishing rainforests
Conservationists are fighting to restore and expand the last remaining fragments of the UK's rare temperate rainforest as climate change looms. Wildlife experts describe temperate rainforest – a globally rare habitat that once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man – as the 'jewel in the crown' of the country's landscapes but warn they are a pale shadow of their former selves. The area of Britain covered by these woodlands has shrunk from a fifth to just 1%, cleared for timber, commercial forestry and agriculture. They are now found only in fragments that face multiple threats including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures which put their unique micro-climate at risk. Conservationists say scaling up and connecting areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands and species that grow in them, is crucial to making sure they and the wildlife they support can survive in the face of climate change. Restoring these ancient woodlands can also play a role in tackling climate change, storing carbon and reducing run-off and flooding caused by increasingly heavy rainstorms, they argue. Efforts under way include a £38.9 million, 100-year programme by the Wildlife Trusts, funded by insurance giant Aviva, to restore 1,755 hectares (4,337 acres) of rainforest along the Atlantic coastline, from Cornwall to Scotland, including Wales, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The Wildlife Trusts is also taking a rainforest garden to Chelsea Flower Show, which they have announced will be rehomed at the Bristol Zoo Project after the world famous horticultural event, in an effort to raise awareness of the rare habitat. Tara Cummins, co-ordinator of the Aviva temperate rainforest programme at the Wildlife Trusts, which is working with local and national wildlife trusts to deliver the scheme, said: 'The aim is to go beyond traditional habitat restoration, creating entirely new rainforest.' Ms Cummins said temperate rainforests needed 'incredibly specific conditions to grow', with steady temperatures and a good level of rainfall. But she said: 'With climate change those conditions are found in less and less areas.' So expanding the habitat – and linking up with existing patches of rainforest – is key to ensure the woods and their wildlife can survive the changing climate. The programme comes at a time of debate over the use of land, with pressure for food security, development, nature restoration, climate targets and energy. But Ms Cummins said the scheme was targeting only land that was not valuable for food production, such as heavily degraded land, which had been sitting on the market for several years. And she said: 'Restoring these habitats and wild places is critical for climate change, which is also critical for guaranteeing food security,' with the woodlands storing carbon and slowing the flow of water to curb flooding. The programme has nine sites so far, with seven locations already announced, including Skiddaw in Cumbria, which will eventually look to plant 300,000 trees over 270 hectares and restore around 400 hectares of blanket bog. Elsewhere, Creg y Cowin, on the Isle of Man, was the first site to plant trees in the programme. And in Devon, more than 7,000 trees have been planted at Bowden Pillars on the edges of the Dart river valley this winter, to create new rainforest close to existing examples of the ancient wooded landscape. Not far away, a temperate rainforest nature reserve in the Dart Valley managed by Devon Wildlife Trust shows how rich the habitat can be. Even in early spring before the trees come into leaf, the woodlands hugging the hills around the Dart are a bright green, with rocks, tree trunks and branches festooned with mosses, liverworts and ferns and an array of lichen. The river is home to rare brown trout and otters, while birds including red start, pied flycatchers and red-listed lesser spotted woodpeckers are also found here, along with adders, hazel dormice and common lizards. Pine martens have been reintroduced in the area, and it is one of only a handful of sites that is home to the blue ground beetle. Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at Devon Wildlife Trust, said temperate rainforest such as in the Dart valley is 'the jewel in the crown of habitats we've got in the country, but they're so much smaller, a pale shadow of their former selves'. He said there was a need for a critical mass of rainforest to create healthy habitat in the face of recent severe droughts and damaging floods, and future predictions that these will worsen. 'Scale is so important,' he said, with larger and more complex woodlands more resilient and more likely to return to health than smaller, isolated patches, while rare and threatened wildlife would be able to find niches in larger woods to better weather climate-driven weather extremes. 'The precious and fragile areas which remain need to be increased in size, their condition improved, and fragmented woodlands joined up to ensure they are resilient and can thrive long into the future,' he said. The rainforest project is part of a £100 million programme by Aviva of projects in UK and Ireland using nature to tackle climate change and it is expected to remove 800,000 tonnes of emissions over 100 years. Claudine Blamey, chief sustainability officer with Aviva, said: 'This seemed like an amazing project to actually reinstate temperate rainforests across the west side of the UK, and to bring back that diversity that isn't there, such an important biodiversity, that the UK will benefit from as climate starts to change, as we start to see more and more impacts from climate change.' She said it was 'logic' as an insurance company to understand the role nature could play in protecting habitats, homes, areas and communities, and to use it to help with the worsening impacts of climate change. Natural solutions such as restoring habitat could be part of the solution to issues such as flooding, she said.
