Organisations involved
Implementer
Referring partner
Our mission
In October 2021, we started a long-term, multi-million-pound project to restore peatland and expand forests in Scotland. This project will remove carbon from the atmosphere, increase biodiversity, connect woodlands, improve recreation and scenery for local communities, and preserve cultural heritage sites.
In an era where environmental action is imperative, the University will sequester its unavoidable carbon emissions produced by essential travel* as part of our ambition to be zero carbon by 2040.
Over the course of the programme, several thousand hectares of native woodland and peatland habitats will be established, creating a haven for plants and animals. These sites will also be living labs for researchers, students and communities to view and learn about wildlife and habitat restoration.
We are now exploring next steps to expand the initiative to halt biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems through the work of the University. This includes the work of the university researchers, staff and students across the globe
Accepting volunteers
Yes | [email protected]Classification
- Farmlands
- Forests
- Peatlands
- Increases Health & Wellbeing
- Mitigates Climate Change
- Safeguards Biodiversity
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Employees300
VolunteersImpact
By October 2025 the programme has secured 5035ha of habitat restoration in Scotland through peatland restoration and woodland creation. This will secure 1 million tonnes carbon sequestration in Scotland using long-term actions to create and manage woodlands and restore peatlands that deliver maximum social and ecological benefit, matching the University’s expected climate emissions from all travel by 2040 and beyond.
This year the programme planted 637,000 trees, these are mainly native species and will connect habitats and increase biodiversity at these sites.
We are now moving into a phase where our land and partner sites can provide sites for learning and teaching and research, including the collection and management of baseline data that supporting research and monitoring activities. For example
- Soil sampling including eDNA
- Recruitment of 3 PhDs to study biodiversity, carbon and community metrics for Forest and Peatlands.
- High-resolution drone surveys of University land
We host annual community meetings for each of our sites. This gave us a chance to update stakeholders on progress, respond to any queries, and gather feedback on community aspirations for the community areas. Community areas are parts of our land set aside for the local communities to decide what happens there and is mainly used for volunteer tree planting and wildlife viewing.
We have a programme of volunteering and outreach that includes: here have been a variety of volunteering and educational opportunities throughout the year. This year volunteers have contributed over 1000 hours to helping at our Forest and Peatland sites including planting rare plants and archaeology digs plus school visits.
We are working with a range of partners that include landowners, land management organisations and community groups across Scotland. Each long-term partnership is aimed at conserving and revitalising Scottish ecosystems, including forests and peatlands, which play a vital role in carbon sequestration
