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We’ve already lost nearly all of our rainforests: now we must come together to protect and restore these biodiverse havens before they’re gone forever.
Will you help protect temperate rainforests?
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Will you join the national movement of people saving our magnificent rainforests? Please donate to rescue UK rainforests from extinction.
The UK is home to some of the rarest rainforests on Earth, full of unique lichens and bryophytes, but we’ve lost nearly all of them. For too long, we’ve been sleepwalking towards their extinction. Together we can – and must – change that. Will you join the national movement of people saving our magnificent rainforests? Please donate to rescue UK rainforests from extinction.
Branches draped in lichen, rocks cloaked in moss and trunks decorated with fronds of ferns. Sunlight filters through misty, humid air. Towering trees and mossy carpets. One step crunches, another squishes. The calm trickle of a stream, the rustle of leaves, a bird call high above you. You’re in a rainforest…in the UK!
Along the western coast of the UK lies a swathe of precious, prehistoric temperate rainforest; full of lichens, bryophytes, ferns and fungi. These incredibly biodiverse, ancient woodlands lock down carbon, clean our air and are home to a vast array of wildlife, much of it scarce and threatened.
However, our vast rainforests of the past are now only isolated fragments, and they need your help. Donating just £15 could help train a land manager to preserve rainforest habitat, £40 could help identify and restore a hidden patch of rainforest and £100 could help rescue a rare species clinging to survival. Whatever you can give today will help rescue UK rainforests from extinction.
Occurring on less than 1% of the planet’s surface, we have a global responsibility to look after our temperate rainforests and their internationally important lichens and bryophytes. Species like the White Script Lichen are only able to survive in the rainforests of Scotland and Prickly Featherwort has its last global stronghold in Britain’s rainforests1.
They may not be as famous as their tropical cousins, but temperate rainforests are just as rare and special. So, as a rainforest nation, why don’t our rainforests in Argyll, Gwynedd, County Antrim and Dartmoor receive as much recognition as those in the Amazon?
The UK’s precious, prehistoric rainforests are under threat like never before: pollution, invasive species and disease have ripped through them, leaving destruction in their wake. They desperately need help; can they count on you? A donation of £100 could rescue a rare species clinging to survival.
Our rainforests can be some of the most biodiverse places in the world. But, due to human influence, only isolated fragments remain in the UK, and they are heading towards extinction – taking rare lichens and bryophytes with them.
The UK Government has committed to an ambitious global agreement to manage 30% of land for nature by 2030 – but with just five years to go, only 6% of our land can be counted towards this target2. Unfortunately, the UK is now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Nature needs your help.
We’ve already lost nearly all of our rainforests. Will you join the movement to protect and restore these biodiverse havens before they’re gone forever?
With your support, we’ll continue to work around the clock to protect and restore rainforests. From rescuing species hands-on, to influencing government policies – with your help, we’ll do whatever it takes to keep these vital habitats from becoming history. It is possible to reverse nature’s decline – with your support we can make this a reality.
In Scotland we’ve been working with a wide range of stakeholders to create rainforest management guidance, which can be adopted by all restoration projects. We are now supporting the implementation of these guidelines, ensuring that lichen and bryophyte conservation is at the heart of all rainforest restoration on Scotland’s west coast. You can read more about our work in the enclosed leaflet.
A donation of £40 today could help protect and restore the rich biodiversity of our precious, prehistoric rainforests. You can help rescue UK rainforests, and their rare lichens and bryophytes, from extinction.
We can’t save these places on our own. We don’t swoop in and buy up rainforest. Instead, we work with communities, building partnerships and alliances, working hand in hand with those who live in and around this incredible habitat. Your support helps make this possible.
From understanding the needs of lichens and bryophytes to translocating at-risk species to advising on effective rainforest management, you can help increase their biodiversity and improve their resilience by donating today.
There is a long way to go. Restoring rainforest doesn’t happen overnight. But we’re in it for the long haul.
The UK’s precious, prehistoric rainforests are dangerously close to extinction – now it’s up to all of us to secure their future, before they’re gone forever. <Name>, by giving a gift today you will help rescue UK rainforests.
Thank you for your support.
Alistair Whyte
Head of Plantlife Scotland
PS The UK rainforests and their rare lichens and bryophytes are hurtling towards extinction but together we can help secure their future. Whatever you can give today will help rescue UK rainforests. Thank you.
Here’s how your donation could help rainforests:
Find Out More About Our Biodiverse Rainforests
Will you donate to rescue UK rainforests from extinction?
How is Plantlife boosting biodiversity?
Maintaining diversity in temperate rainforests is key to their recovery and resilience.
Plantlife has an unrivalled reputation for fostering identification skills and habitat knowledge, and inspiring an appreciation of lichens and bryophytes with landowners and managers. We work in partnership to improve temperate rainforest stewardship. Here are examples of some of the success stories Plantlife supporters have made possible.
Plantlife played a key role in developing the Celtic Rainforest conservation project which protects and celebrates Wales’ temperate rainforests. We managed invasive species, restored ancient Oak woodlands and reintroduced appropriate grazing.
In 2024, Plantlife was a lead author of the State of Wales’ Rainforest report. This was launched in the Senedd to draw high-level political attention to these incredible habitats and support our call for government support for rainforest restoration.
We worked with The Woodland Trust at Coed Felenrhyd, providing guidance on creating beneficial deadwood habitats for fungi and insects, and ensuring rare lichens and bryophytes are at the centre of conservation action.
Across Devon and Cornwall, we helped protect 21 threatened lichens and bryophytes as part of a Natural England Species Recovery Project alongside the National Trust and The Woodland Trust. Together we restored and extended the rainforest areas, trained over 130 people to better protect rainforest and removed threats from invasive species.
Through our ‘Building Resilience in South West Woodlands’ project we engaged schools, families and members of the public through innovative woodland events and training programmes. Alongside Plantlife, a team of volunteers used our Rapid Rainforest Assessment tool to identify 15 important new rainforest fragments and recorded 60 new species.
In the Lake District, we carried out a rescue mission to save the rare, Black-bordered Shingle Lichen and Stinky Sticta from a tree infected with Ash dieback. Translocation is never a first option for lichen conservation work, but to ensure the survival of some species it is necessary. The site will now be monitored regularly but it may take up to 10 years to be sure of its complete success.
Plantlife has a long-standing interest in temperate rainforest in Scotland. In 2007, we identified the West Coast as one of the first UK Important Plant Areas.
We then assessed the status of rainforest across Scotland and published The State of Scotland’s Rainforest report. This highlighted that only 30,000ha of rainforest remained in Scotland, much of which had been colonised by Rhododendron ponticum.
Now, Plantlife and The Woodland Trust jointly lead the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest, a dynamic partnership of over twenty organisations committed to restoring and expanding temperate rainforests over the west coast.
Hope grows from the ground up and together we can rescue endangered lichens, mosses, ferns and fungi. Your donation can directly help fund the recovery of species, to keep our rainforests from becoming history.
Join the national movement of people saving our magnificent rainforests by donating today.
Inspiring J.R.R Tolkien and Arthur Conan Doyle, and featuring in the tales of King Arthur and Finn McCool, temperate rainforests have long been part of our cultural history but not always given the recognition and protection they deserve.
In Scotland there are tales of the Ghillie Dhu, a sprite who is said to be the guardian of the forest and wears an acorn cup hat, a lungwort coat and a belt made of ferns.
In English folklore, some believe Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor was planted by Druids and may get its name from “wise man’s wood,” or the Druid’s Stone that is said to be central to their rituals. The legends of Wisht Hounds, huge black dogs that roam the moors, are also linked to this area.
In Welsh mythology, elements of the Mabinogi tales are thought to be set in what we now think of as temperate rainforests. The rainforest Coed Felenrhyd was the last resting place of the heroic King Pryderi who was killed by the trickster Gwydion over stolen pigs. The site is also home to adventures of the famous Welsh mercenary and magician Huw Llwyd who performed exorcisms on those plagued by demons.
Rainforests have been inspiring humans for centuries – but if we don’t act now, we’ll lose them forever. Donate today to rescue UK rainforests from extinction.
Right here in the UK, we need our rainforests, and their plants and fungi, to store carbon, slow floodwaters and clean our polluted air – but they can’t do that if they’re left to go extinct.
In 2022, UK woodlands removed 316,454 tonnes of pollutants from the atmosphere, saving over £1.7billion in avoided negative health impacts4. Temperate rainforests are an important part of this. Rainforests save our lives – and now they need us to save them.
Our rainforests are some of the best carbon stores on Earth; on top of what trees can store, lichens, mosses and fungi lock away extra carbon, too. This makes them a vital ally in helping us fight the climate crisis.
The species found in temperate rainforests can act as sponges, reducing impacts of flooding. They can also help reduce soil erosion, regulate temperatures and produce their own rain. Rainforest species play a vital role in the local environment and visiting a rainforest can improve our wellbeing.
We desperately need to protect biodiverse sanctuaries like rainforests because they support all life on Earth. Thriving ecosystems clean the water we drink and the air we breathe – so when we damage biodiversity, we threaten life as we know it.
Think of what would be possible if our rainforests were restored and expanded. Join the national movement of people saving our magnificent rainforests by donating today.
Species we are at risk of losing forever:
Nearly 1/6 species in Great Britain are threatened with extinction. This doesn’t have to be our future. Donate today to rescue UK rainforests from extinction.
Rainforests are the perfect example of abundant biodiversity: many thousands of animals, plants and microorganisms living in harmony. But with grave threats to rainforests and so few remaining, this abundance of life could all vanish.
There are many species that would benefit from healthier rainforests, including:
UK rainforests desperately need your help. Will you donate to rescue UK rainforests from extinction?
The UK’s precious, prehistoric rainforests are dangerously close to extinction due to invasive species, pollution and disease.
But we cannot afford to lose them – they help us fight climate change, give us clean air to breathe, and are home to ferns, mosses and lichens that are thousands of years old.
We’ve already lost nearly all of our rainforests, now we must come together to protect and restore these biodiverse havens before they’re gone forever.
Join the national movement of people saving our magnificent rainforests: please donate now.
Donate Today
References 1, 2,3 and 4 are listed at the bottom of this webpage.
This appeal represents Plantlife’s work to create a world rich in plants and fungi. Your gift will help support work from protecting habitats like temperate rainforests to campaigning for policy change, and working in partnership with people. Your gift will be used in the most effective way possible to make a difference to nature. We can only continue our conservation work through the generosity of supporters like you.
