Image credit Alex Lintott
Restore Nature - Fixing Future Forestry
Local Environmental risk assessment
Stobo and Todrig campaigns
Commercial forestry grant applications should be made in line with existing legal frameworks for assessing environmental impact and mitigation. Stobo Hope is an environmentally and culturally sensitive 1000+ ha glen in the Scottish Borders. In 2024, this unique landscape was threatened by a commercial forestry project without full assessment of the environmental or community impacts. A legal challenge raised by Stobo Hope Residents Action Group, supported by Restore Nature, stopped unlawful work . The judicial review was successful and an EIA is in progress.
Please visit our Crowdfunder site for details on the Todrig campaign. We have now been successful in gaining permission by the Lord Ordinary for a judicial review.
Financial Basis for Commercial Forestry
Grants payments and tax relief for schemes
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) launched an inquiry, chaired by our Special Advisor Ian Wall, into the validity of using tax payer money and giving tax allowances for tree planting and commercial forestry.
The subsequent report called for a radical rethink and made a number of important recommendations supported by Restore Nature.
We need urgent reform to make better use of tax payers’ money and deliver on carbon and biodiversity targets. Restore Nature is working on specific challenges and alternative solutions such as those documented in the RSE report.
Delivering on Carbon and Biodiversity targets
The right tree in the right place
Commercial forests are typically large-scale monocultures of non-native species. While we need timber, commercial plantations that destroy semi-natural biodiverse habitats − moorlands, wetlands and upland grasslands − have major adverse impacts on biodiversity, soils, fisheries and flood alleviation capacity. Although commercial forestry may deliver short-term carbon capture benefits, these semi-natural habitats already provide significant carbon storage, raising serious questions over the net carbon emissions of commercial forestry in these areas. Planting the right tree in the right place is critical and we are working to support a more balanced forestry system that will deliver across multiple targets.
Image credit Alex Lintott
Restore Nature One Health Campaigns
'One Health' - Balancing human, animal and environmental health
Safe use of paraciticides in our pets
The UK is home to 22 million cats and dogs which together with increasing use of products to combat parasites in our pets has led to increasing volumes of pesticides being used in our homes. In the UK, all veterinary medicines are subject to a legally regulated licensing process that evaluates their safety in animals, humans and the environmental however many companion animal medicines have only been assessed through a Phase I environmental impact assessment and not through a more rigorous Phase II ecotoxicological assessment.
Rapidly emerging data on molecules such as Imidacloprid and Fipronil suggest there may be serious and wider impacts on the environment than previously identified. The risk of human exposure to some of these molecules is also being interrogated.
The Precautionary Principle
Turning off the tap
So-called forever chemicals (PFAS [per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances]) are ubiquitous in modern life, as are herbicides, insecticides, pesticides and fungicides − commonly used to control ‘pests’ to protect garden plants, crops and to control unwanted insects.
At Restore Nature we are concerned that products designed to solve one problem may be creating others. Our team is working to understand the known risks (to biodiversity and ecosystems) and the unknown risks (e.g. to human health).
We advocate a precautionary principle to minimise use of these chemicals and their associated risks to humans, domestic animals and the environment.
Raising awareness on Biodiversity loss and potential solutions
Bringing back the buzz
2024 saw a significant decrease in UK insect life. While this was likely exacerbated by more extreme weather, it is part of deeply concerning trend toward widespread biodiversity decline across our insects, birds and mammals. Restore Nature’s Dave Goulson likens this widespread species decline to a process of removing rivets from an aeroplane − it may continue to fly without some rivets, but which ones are so critical that removing them will send the plane crashing to the ground? Urgent action and greater awareness are needed. Restore Nature aims to push the biodiversity crisis up political agendas and provide actionable solutions through our campaigns and programmes.