Bringing new woodlands to life across Scotland

Launched in 2021 with £2 million funding from bp, the Future Woodlands Fund pilot tested new ways to unlock small-scale woodland creation and restore ancient woodland that might otherwise be lost. The pilot closed for applications in 2024, but its success continues to directly shaped our future work, with the restoration of ghost woodlands now a key priority for Future Woodlands Scotland

The need

Scotland’s native woodland is under serious pressure. Today, only 4% of our land is covered by native woodland. Much of what remains is small, fragmented, and in poor condition due to overgrazing, disease, and invasive species.

Among these areas are ghost woodlands, the last traces of ancient forests where scattered old trees still cling to life. These neglected habitats may appear lost, but with the right support, they can regenerate, locking up carbon and supporting biodiversity.

However, small-scale woodland creation and ancient woodland restoration often fell outside traditional public funding schemes. The Future Woodlands Fund was created to fill that gap and test new ways to make these projects happen.

The pilot: A new approach

Launched in partnership with bp in 2021, the three-year, £2 million fund trialled an incentive-based approach to encourage landowners to:

• establish new native woodland (3–100 hectares)
• restore ‘ghost’ or degraded former native woodland with high ecological potential

Support included:

• full coverage of application costs and specialist surveys for Scottish Forestry grants
• contribution towards costs of Woodland Carbon Code registration and validation
• flexible funding options, including upfront Small Woodland payments to improve cashflow
• significant grants to cover costs to reduce deer browsing pressure for ghost woodlands

Alongside this, we worked with Scottish Forestry and the Woodland Carbon Code to test new ways to verify ghost woodland restoration and generate carbon credits, providing landowners with a long-term income stream for woodland care.

The impact

The pilot may be complete, but the trees are still establishing and growing. The work on the ground is far from over as we build on our baseline monitoring with ongoing, extensive biodiversity, soil carbon and vegetation monitoring over the next 10 years at our Ghost Woodland sites.   

• Over 900,000 trees planted or committed
• 380 hectares of new native woodland approved for creation
• 486 hectares of degraded ancient woodland committed to restoration
• Carbon became less of a priority during the pilot, as we focused on the additional biodiversity benefits achieved through natural regeneration, but we’re still projected to capture 91% of the target 230,000 tonnes of CO₂e by 2080

The pilot showed how private finance can work alongside public support to deliver practical, nature-based climate solutions, while supporting rural landowners, farmers, and communities.

What we learned

The success of the Future Woodlands Fund has directly shaped the future direction of Future Woodlands Scotland.

Tree planting is only part of the nature-based solution puzzle. Natural woodland regeneration of ghost woodlands is one of the most efficient and low-cost approaches to locking up carbon. Yet these ancient habitats are disappearing fast. That’s why restoring ghost woodlands is now a key focus of our work.

Building on the success of our pilot, we are scaling up efforts to bring these forgotten woodlands back to life, locking up carbon, supporting wildlife, and enriching Scotland’s landscapes for future generations.

For Land Managers: If you took part in the Future Woodlands Fund, thank you for being part of this pioneering project. Some projects are still ongoing, and we continue to work with landowners and managers to support woodland creation and restoration efforts.  

Need support or have questions? Get in touch.