The ‘other rainforest’: restoring Britain’s green gem

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ABSTRACT Climate change and biodiversity loss are two of the most significant challenges currently faced by humanity. Rainforests exemplify the type of biodiverse habitat that can mitigate both these challenges, but they remain threatened in tropical locations and have almost disappeared elsewhere. This article discusses the forgotten temperate rainforests of the British Isles. It introduces their key characteristics and outlines the challenges that conservation managers face in restoring and re-creating these valuable habitats in the UK. Planting new forest takes land from other uses, notably farming, which can be contentious. Forest restoration is, however, necessary and the challenge of reconciling habitual farming practice with the need to ‘climate-proof’ our landscape is outlined.