The UK Infrastructure Bank intends to commit £12M to support a nature restoration project in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
It is set to provide a short-term bridging loan facility to support Highlands Rewilding’s acquisition a 1,300ha rural estate in Argyll – the Tayvallich Estate. The deal represents the UK Infrastructure Bank’s first exclusively in Scotland and its first to fund a “nature capital” project too.
The Highlands Rewilding project aims to provide new data and understanding on the restoration of Scotland’s ecosystems.
According to the UK National Infrastructure Bank, such insights are expected to inform more effective land management for biodiversity which in turn should aid growth of natural capital markets.
In addition, the money is expected to allow for restoration of temperate rainforest on the estate. Tayvallich is home to fragments of temperate rainforest, a threatened habitat which makes up 2% of Scotland’s woodlands.
In these woodlands almost every surface is covered with lichens, mosses, liverworts, and ferns. Highland Rewilding aims for their restoration to both increase biodiversity and help lock up carbon.
The project will also seek to restore peatland on the estate, which is at present degraded and emitting carbon into the atmosphere. It will also explore the potential for carbon capture by marine ecosystems.
The project is in line with Highland Rewilding’s goal set out in a strategic plan, to invest in new infrastructure technologies and demonstrator projects which can create, scale and accelerate markets beyond the scope of an individual project.
The UK Infrastructure Bank’s loan is set to enable Highlands Rewilding to move to further rounds of funding with potential investors, with a view towards developing new revenue models and natural capital business on the estate.
The UK Infrastructure Bank, which opened in 2021 and is owned by the Treasury, has also stated the commitment to lend is subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence and documentation.
UK Infrastructure Bank CEO John Flint said: “The Highlands Rewilding project on the Tayvallich Estate has exciting potential for climate, biodiversity and economic growth benefits, and I am pleased we are able to provide short-term financial support.
“The bank’s investment is intended to support the development of the science, data and understanding needed to deliver high integrity natural capital markets, in line with our mission to boost the innovative infrastructure technologies which will be essential to achieving net zero.”
Meanwhile, Highlands Rewilding chief executive and founder Jeremy Leggett said: “Highlands Rewilding is thrilled to receive this support from the UK Infrastructure Bank. We will be working hard to turn it into a significant scaling of nature-recovery, one congruent with the ambitious targets many governments, including the UK’s, set in the recent global biodiversity treaty signed in Montreal.
“The Tayvallich Estate, with its huge potential for temperate rainforest restoration and other wonders, is the ideal terrain for this frontier work.”
In addition, a spokesperson for Tayvallich Initiative – a community initiative working to secure affordable housing, local jobs, farming and nature restoration across the Tayvallich area – said: “As a proactive community, Tayvallich looks forward to working with our new neighbour Highlands Rewilding to address our most pressing issues, including affordable housing and facilitating options for younger people to live and work in the area.
“We feel that Highlands Rewilding’s plans to regenerate nature will create local jobs, while addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency.”
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