DARTMOOR’S rare and ancient forests are set to embark on a long road to recovery, thanks to £38 million, not from the government, but the private sector.

The Wildlife Trusts are embarking on an ambitious new project to restore British rainforests thanks to £38 million of funding from the insurance provider Aviva.

It is part of a wider programme of nature-based projects funded by Aviva to remove carbon from the atmosphere. It will improve biodiversity and climate resilience by restoring wild places including British temperate rainforests.

Although the allocation of the funds has yet to be announced, a sizeable portion of the conservation money is expected to be heading to Dartmoor, in order to restore some of the best examples of temperate rainforest left in England, such as Fingle Woods, Bovey Woods and Wistman's Woods.

Temperate rainforests are even rarer than tropical rainforests. Although they once covered a fifth of the UK, all along the west coast of Britain, the habitat was largely farmed and grazed out of existence over thousands of years. Temperate rainforests now cover just 1% of the country.

But these vanishingly rare habitats are some of the most biodiverse areas in Europe, and the development and growth of temperate rainforests is fundamental for nature’s recovery, stopping climate change and adapting to its impacts. This includes achieving UK net-zero targets, reducing the threat from extreme heat, flood and drought, and protecting at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.

The many millions provided by Aviva will be used to protect and grow temperate rainforests across Britain. Sites such as Fingle Woods and Bovey Woods have been sites of research and conservation for many years now, but new funding would radically ramp up such efforts.

Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at the Wildlife Trust, said: ’These are very very special habitats, but there’s not much left of them.

‘But you can regrow these ancient places if you have time. This is a very long-term project, until 2083. So basically our vision is to clothe the western parts of the country with back with this rainforest.’

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: ‘We’re looking forward to working with communities to bring back rainforests along the Atlantic coast of the British Isles – these woods are magical and much loved by those who visit and live near them.

‘The task of restoring land to help nature recover and store carbon has never been more urgent. Nature – wild habitats and the species that depend on them – is in fast decline and we’re in a climate crisis. These twin emergencies are interlinked and threaten communities, water supplies and the future of farming – which is why we’re so pleased that, with Aviva’s support, we’ll be substantially increasing our efforts to address these crises.

‘We have very strict criteria for what we consider to be a very high integrity carbon credit scheme for the residual emissions still left after strenuous efforts to reduce them at source. Aviva’s approach meets our high standards. We’re excited that we’ll now be able to work with many more communities to help nature fight back, improve climate resilience and enhance the lives of all those involved through these projects.

‘We believe that there needs to be a huge increase in nature-based solutions to climate change – but it’s critical that these solutions are not used as an excuse to carry on with a polluting ‘business as usual’ model which fails to reduce emissions at source. Too often, businesses try to ‘put the genie back into the bottle’ – but Aviva is taking a more far-sighted approach. It is investing in restoring nature to store carbon 20 years before the carbon associated with Aviva’s potential future investments goes into the atmosphere. This is to be applauded.’