Saving Scotland's Rainforest

Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest (ASR) launched in 2019. The alliance brings together twenty-five environment-oriented organisations, from Plantlife, to the British Lichen Society, to RSPB, to the Woodland Trust, to NatureScot, to Community Woodlands Association, to Argyll & Isles Coast and Countryside Trust.

This network of organisations supports various projects to restore and re-connect diverse rainforest across the West Coast of Scotland. ASR also hopes to ensure rainforest restoration is benefiting local communities, to secure significant long-term funding streams for landscape-scale rainforest restoration, and to ensure the Scottish Government can fulfil its commitment that “Scotland’s rainforest will be restored and expanded as a natural solution to the climate emergency.”

As of July 2025, five projects are in delivery, implementing rainforest restoration: the Glen Torridon Partnership Project, the Knapdale Restoration Project, the West Cowal Habitat Restoration Project, Saving Morvern’s Rainforest, and Beò Airceig: Living Arkaig. Five projects are currently in development: Appin Rainforest Regeneration, Nevis Nature Network, South Assynt Project, Sunart Rainforest Project, and Regenerating Craignish Rainforest.

Various smart forest technologies have been integrated into these different projects to restore and manage landscapes. Technologies have included drone surveys of invasive non-native rhododendron and drone thermal imaging of deer. Such aerial mapping enables deer numbers to be managed through stalking, and rhododendron to be removed manually. Notably, both deer and rhododendron can hinder rainforest regeneration as deer graze saplings while rhododendron competes for habitat and prevents light from reaching native seedlings.

On one ASR project site, technologies have also been deployed to plant native forest. Here, the project worked with start-up AutoSpray Systems to use large drones to disperse native seed (such as rowan, birch, oak) across the rugged open hillside.

Many ASR projects are using technologies to monitor rainforest sites. These technologies include camera traps to monitor species and locations, such as wild boar gates. Some projects are using acoustic monitoring devices and engaging citizen scientists through apps such as iNaturalist. Remote sensing has been used in some instances to aid decision making around management interventions, with heat maps overlaid on ancient woodland surveys.

Beyond the project sites, ASR’s website also provides online resources and best practice guides for those implementing nature recovery on the ground. These guides include Community engagement: Good practice for restoring Scotland’s rainforest.