CORNWALL Wildlife Trust is set to restore temperate rainforest habitat at West Muchlarnick, near Looe, following a long-term partnership with UK insurer Aviva.

The project will involve planting more than 30,000 trees across the 150-acre site over the next 50 years, with the aim of reviving a globally rare ecosystem.

The initiative follows a successful public appeal in 2024, which raised £67,645 against a £50,000 target, reflecting the strong support of Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s members and wider community. Aviva’s funding, secured earlier this year, forms part of its broader programme to support nature-based projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere and help ecosystems recover.

Temperate rainforests, also known as Atlantic woodlands or Celtic rainforests, are extremely rare globally, with only one per cent of the world’s climate suitable for them. In the British Isles, they once covered around 20 per cent of the land but have now been reduced to less than one per cent due to centuries of deforestation. Restoring these forests in Cornwall forms part of a nationwide effort to conserve this precious habitat and make the UK more resilient to climate change.

The West Muchlarnick site is an ideal location for rainforest restoration, with its humid valleys and presence of rare species. Surveys have already recorded 19 species of lichen that the UK holds an international responsibility to conserve due to their scarcity elsewhere in the world.

Other wildlife includes stoats, red squirrels, pine martens, and threatened birds such as wood warblers, redstarts and pied flycatchers. The damp conditions also support a wide array of mosses, liverworts, lichens, ferns, and globally rare fungi such as hazel gloves.

Alison Smith, temperate rainforest project manager at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: “We’re delighted this rainforest restoration project in can get started. It will provide vital habitat for wildlife in a time of nature crisis, store large amounts of carbon, and benefit local communities for generations to come. Restoring this incredible habitat will also allow adaptation to climate change, reduce threats from extreme weather, and enable local people to reap the benefits. These are exciting times!”

Restoration efforts will combine natural regeneration with tree planting, connecting fragmented woodlands and allowing characteristic plants, fungi and animals to spread across the landscape. This will increase biodiversity resilience and help ecosystems adapt to threats such as extreme heat, floods, and drought. Tree species being planted include sessile oak, birch, rowan, holly, alder, willow, and hazel.

Local communities and schools will be closely involved in the project, benefiting from increased access to nature, volunteering opportunities, and environmental education. In addition to ecological gains, the restoration will provide cleaner air and water and help reduce flood risks in the region.

Claudine Blamey, group sustainability director at Aviva, added: “Cornwall is the perfect environment for this uniquely precious rainforest habitat. It has been part of the landscape for thousands of years yet is at risk of disappearing entirely. Through our long-term partnership with the Wildlife Trusts, we are proud to help restore these habitats, support local communities and make the UK more climate-ready.”