The Atlantic Isles span Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England, connected by a shared oceanic climate and ecosystems including, peatlands, wetlands, broadleaf woodlands, and freshwater and marine systems.
These landscapes are among the most nature-depleted in the world. The UK ranks in the top 10% of countries globally for biodiversity loss. Ireland’s environmental scorecard ranges from moderate to very poor across climate, nature, water, and air quality. A food system crisis is unfolding alongside the ecological one: the annual food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK alone is estimated at £268 billion.
A growing movement of bioregional initiatives, farmer clusters, river trusts, and community-led partnerships is taking shape across the Isles. Commonland’s role here is to support these actors to connect, learn from each other, and build the collective capacity for holistic landscape restoration at scale.
Ireland
County Waterford
Collective action for healthy ecosystems and thriving communities in South-East Ireland
Landscape context and pressures The River Medway is one of the most polluted rivers in the UK. Running from the High Weald headwaters through water meadows to the Thames Estuary, the catchment suffers from agricultural and urban runoff, soil degradation, sewage pollution, habitat loss, and biodiversity decline — all amplified by increasing droughts and floods. […]
Integrated catchment restoration from the Scottish Highlands to the Firth of Forth
Atlantic Isles
West England
Uniting farmer clusters for landscape-scale regeneration in the West of England
Addressing an ecological crisis through farmer-led regenerative practices at the largest freshwater lake in the Atlantic Isles, Lough Neagh
Community-led food systems and catchment restoration across the Tay Bioregion
Agriculture, forestry, and urban expansion are fragmenting ecosystems; native species abundance has dropped ~60% since the 1970s
Nutrient runoff, sewage, soil erosion, and pollution are degrading rivers, lakes, and coastal waters across the isles
£268bn annual food-related disease costs in the UK; the poorest households would need half their income for a healthy diet
Three-quarters of UK peatlands are degraded, releasing significant CO₂; Ireland’s peat soils face similar pressures
Extreme weather is intensifying flood risk, drought, and soil erosion in river valleys and coastal plains
Farmland birds down 70% since the 1970s; pollinators and native fish in steep decline
We work with locally rooted organisations — bioregional initiatives, river trusts, farmer clusters, and catchment partnerships — providing seed funding through our Partnership Development Fund, strategic guidance, and practical tools. Our anchor landscape in South-East Ireland has been active since 2022. We now have partnerships across Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, and Wales, each at different stages of development. Our focus is on strengthening facilitation and coordination capacity within these partnerships — the missing ingredient that is critically underfunded yet essential for landscape-scale collaboration to succeed.
Across five nations with different policy, regulatory, and finance frameworks, there is a huge opportunity for comparative learning. We connect partners across the region to share approaches - from catchment restoration and bioregional mapping to regenerative agriculture and landscape finance. A Scottish HLR Learning Network is emerging, and we are exploring broader learning infrastructure to span the whole region. We are also developing landscape leadership programming to build the systemic leadership capacity that restoration at scale requires.
South-East Ireland Pioneering new approaches including catalyst grants, a world-first Bioregional Basic Income, and whole-bioregion investment portfolios to fund regenerative projects with ecological and community value.
Avon / West of England Bringing together 10 farmer clusters and 600 farmers across 65,000 hectares — with three backbone organisations uniting efforts in impact assessment, fundraising, governance, and landscape-scale coordination.
A new partnership with the South East Rivers Trust to connect fragmented restoration efforts across the Medway catchment through a shared digital platform, farmer engagement, and community events including the annual River Medway Pilgrimage.
Forth Rivers Trust, Scotland Coordinating funding, land management, and stakeholder collaboration across the Forth Catchment for wetland restoration, river corridor enhancement, and community engagement.
My two passions are soil regeneration and participatory processes. Since holistic regeneration of our soils requires collaboration of the whole system I can bring both passions together at Commonland. As we all strive together to reach the (bold) 2040 goal we step into a big responsibility, with the freedom and flexibility to design how to get there.
Sarah Prosser and Pieter Ploeg on the need for an Irish Land Observatory Picture Ireland’s countryside: a mosaic of small green fields divided by darker whitethorn hedgerows, clusters of cows an ...
Ellie Percey, Landscape Developer at Commonland, offers a reflection of the recent communing of the Bioregional Weaving Labs collective in Brandenburg, Germany, woven with inspiration from Robin Wall ...