Ordinary people are being invited to invest in projects to re-wild the Scottish Highlands by a company that is restoring nature on two estates.
Highlands Rewilding hopes to provide a 5% annual return on the investment over the course of 10 years.
Highlands Rewilding has bought two estates, Bunloit and Beldorney, which are both on the banks of Loch Ness.
The only way that Scottish citizens can co-own land is if nature recovery is being pursued for profit.
The company, which last month won an RSPB award for its nature recovery work, hopes to generate income primarily from the sale of carbon credits and biodiversity credits, which large corporations are increasingly interested in buying to demonstrate that they are "nature positive". Ecotourism, nature-friendly farm produce, and eco building are some of the revenue streams.
Highlands Rewilding says community involvement is a key part of its mission, which is to enable local people to co-own, work or live on the rewilding land.
There will be a lot of sign-up from local communities where we work. Highlands Rewilding's mass ownership model is very popular. A giant company is buying a huge tract of Scotland.
Beldorney is a blank canvas for nature recovery with the removal of non-native conifers and the creation of new broadleaved woodland. New rural populations could be established in Beldorney's ruined crofts.
The former leader of the solar company Solarcentury hopes to raise £8 million to expand his projects.
He said that the big equity investors are interested in this space because of the cost of living crisis. I am hopeful that by the end of February we will have landed the first serious institutional investment.
The Green Finance Institute has calculated how much private investment will be required for the Scottish government to meet its ambitious targets.
We are not even in the foothills yet but this is an effort to get into the foothills.
No corporations are resisting the calls to cut carbon and restore biodiversity despite the fact that natural capital investment is at a similar stage to the solar industry.
The incumbents are traditional land owners who have historically done an awful lot to trash the environment. Landowners are now saying that this has to change. Estate agents in Scotland don't sell properties based on the number of red deer Stags you can kill, but on their natural capital potential.
Only UK residents are allowed to take part in the citizen rewilding offer, with overseas residents required to invest at least £10,000. Highlands Rewilding is considered high-risk because it is a startup business.
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