a partnership project with the Cairngorms National Park Authority
About the project
The Community Benefits from Nature project aims to help people to work collaboratively to develop practical examples of community benefits from natural capital projects. A collaboration between the Scottish Land Commission and Cairngorms National Park Authority, the project supports communities, developers, and landowners to work together to share in the benefits of natural capital investment as Scotland accelerates efforts to address climate change and biodiversity loss - from local business development and joint ventures, to access to land for community growing or housing, to in kind support or funding. The project aims to support all parties in exploring and agreeing practical and realistic opportunities for the local community to benefit from the way nature restoration projects on land are delivered.
The work draws on the Scottish Land Commission’s existing guidance on Delivering Community Benefits from Land and FAQs and follows steps identified in the recently published Community Benefits Route Map which you can read about below.
The project is aligned with the Natural Capital and Community Partnerships project with Community Land Scotland, with the network of advisers working closely together to establish national good practice for integrating community benefits into natural capital investment strategies. As we develop learning resources, these will become available through this page.
This project is part of the Cairngorms 2030 programme. Spanning across 20 long-term projects, Cairngorms 2030 will bring about transformational change in the Cairngorms, benefitting people’s health and wellbeing, delivering on climate change and enhancing nature across the National Park. The programme is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.
Guidance and tools
The Scottish Land Commission has published a Route Map to help make sure communities gain real and lasting benefits from nature restoration and investment in Scotland’s natural environment.
The Route Map is a practical guide for landowners, developers, and investors. It shows how to involve local communities from the start, agree fair outcomes, and make sure natural capital projects – like peatland restoration, woodland creation, and biodiversity work – bring real benefits to the people who live and work in those areas.
Community benefits from natural capital investment: Route Map
Community benefits guidance and tools
Meet the project lead
Annabel Davidson-Knight (Community Benefits from Nature Adviser)
As a Community Benefits from Nature Adviser, Annabel has a particular focus on support to embed a range of benefits for communities local to nature restoration projects. Working in partnership with the Cairngorms National Park Authority to explore opportunities arising from investment in natural capital, Annabel works with land managers and communities across the Park to identify and agree benefits as well as developing national best practice alongside a network of advisers through the Natural Capital Partnership Project with Community Land Scotland. Annabel has a background in the third sector, with a focus on place-based systems change, building multi-stakeholder partnerships and facilitating community action, most recently from within conservation organisations supporting people to actively shape a more equitable form of rural development in the face of climate and biodiversity threats.
