Drumadoon Farm

• Drumadoon is located on the Isle of Arran’s western edge near the town of Blackwaterfoot.
• The land is 260 ha with 225 in scope for restoration.
• It hosts hen harriers and an SPA, SSSI, and Scheduled Monuments for numerous archaeological features.
• Barley production and light grazing will continue on 35 ha of tenanted in-bye.

• The land consists of heather moorland and tracts of bracken/gorse interspersed with patches of broadleaf scrub, sitka plantations and islands of Atlantic rainforest.
• Our project will fund a set of rewilding practices to steer a vegetation mosaic, introduce eco-engineers, bring deer numbers down, and rewet bogs and burns.
• 49 hectares of temperate rainforest restoration will begin in a first phase.
• We will measure changes in ecological integrity and carbon using the CreditNature ‘NARIA’ framework and Treeconomy ‘Sherwood’ platform.

• The landholder is on Arran Community Benefits Society and leading discussions with FLS on a CATR for an adjoining plantation.
• Three new jobs are baked into the project to be funded by tokens, plus finance for community engagement and contributions, such as feedback sessions, monitoring/archaeological events, and products such as timber.
• A final set of benefits is under consultation with communities. We are assessing revenue sharing models for unit trading.

• The project developer is Ecosulis who have 20+ years delivering nature-based solutions.
• The funders will be businesses committed to reporting their nature-positive impact by collaborating with verified restoration projects.
• The token price is matched to the cost of implementation which prevents super profiteering but secures outcomes.
• The resulting natural asset will open new revenues in carbon credits, recreation, and produce to build an enterprise hub that ripples benefits locally.

The partnership and responsibilities:

• Drumadoon (Landholder and supplier)
• CreditNature (Root Authority)
• Scotland the Big Picture (Northwoods Rewilding Network manager)
• Ecosulis (Project Developer)
• Arran Community Benefits Society and residents (Community Voices)
• Treeconomy (Carbon Trading Platform).

A 10-year Principal Delivery Contract has been created to govern project structure, financial flows, and partnership responsibilities between CreditNature and the landholder, aided by MOU’s between CreditNature and other partners. Token and carbon issuance agreements will also be developed. Together these form a governance framework for buyer and supplier confidence.

• There is a risk that corporates require government backing to engage or are bewildered by the landscape of metrics and investment vehicles. CreditNature are managing this risk by securing investment from Scottish Government to design a solution that fits Scottish policy objectives and achieving third party accreditation for the NARIA reporting framework.
• Another risk is that restoration activities fail. This risk is managed by a funding contingency for adaptive management and a plan based on decision-grade metrics and science-backed interventions delivered by a blend of in-house team and quality consultants/contractors.’

• The value of transparency and co-design between stakeholders during early phases to produce a set of building blocks - metrics, plans, agreements, and costs - that fit the local context and together form a clear asset and proposition for investors.
• Also, to establish strong relationships between partners to agree a dynamic vision with space to pivot when things don’t go to plan, and outlining milestones to align expectations and reduce friction over lengthy project terms!