More than 50 investors, including a Hollywood screenwriter and world champion solo climber, invested in Highlands Rewilding, becoming the first shareholders of the firm, founded by eco-entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett.
Mr Leggett, a former CTO of Greenpeace, bought the 1,200-acre Bunloit Estate near Loch Ness in 2020 after selling his Solar Century firm, which brought solar panels to the mass market.
Last year, he added the 860-acre Beldorni Estate, near Huntly in Aberdeenshire, to his portfolio.
Its goal is to “create a nature reserve that optimally captures carbon, enhances biodiversity, creates green jobs, and generates targeted profits in the process.”
It will also become a center for scientific research, including quantifying the ability of the landscape to absorb carbon and sustainable development.
To do this, he sells the land to his newly formed company, Highland Rewilding, through a crowdfunding campaign.
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Most of the land in Beldorni - an 852-acre site - along with two-thirds of the estate in Boonluat - 830 acres - has already been sold.
More shares will be offered at a later date starting at £10 to encourage a wider co-ownership base, with a focus on Scots in general and Highlanders in particular.
Mr. Leggett, chief executive and founder of Highland Rewilding, said: “If we are to win the existential battle against climate melt and biodiversity collapse, we must demonstrate that restoring nature brings more prosperity to more people than continuing to undermine it.
“And we must bring the entire fighting force of local communities to the fight.
“Highlands Rewilding aims to do both of those things.”
He says the definition of a wildlife restoration firm is “largely people-centric” because the battle to fight climate change and biodiversity loss cannot be won “without the full participation of communities.”
“Hence the mass ownership model we intend to use for Highlands Rewilding,” he said.
In addition to wildlife restoration work, affordable eco-homes are being built in Boonlois to help repopulate the area.
Meanwhile, an old forest area known as the Forest of Hope will be planted in Beldorni in honor of the historic United Nations climate summit COP26 held in Glasgow last year.
The site will be planted with 250,000 native broadleaf trees of mixed origin, with potential for expansion in the future.
The project is a public-private collaboration led by environmental groups Highlands Rewilding, Climate Action and Cabrach Trust, with support from conservation charities Trees for Life and Woodland Trust.
The Highlands Rewilding team, which has now grown to 17 people, has already produced its first science report showing how carbon and biodiversity can be quantified “at a detailed level”.
They will regularly update natural capital inventories at sites while assessing the impact of restoration and other land management measures.
Shareholders could potentially benefit from increased land values and profits from environmental solutions to the environmental crisis, driven in part by government payments for carbon offsets and companies’ efforts to green their reputations.