Always on
This project successfully funded on 22nd December 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Back the Biosphere
Ullapool, Highland Council, United Kingdom
Aim
Join us to secure the future of our community-led UNESCO Biosphere, supporting communities, landscapes and livelihoods for the next decade.
🌍 Help Secure the Future of the Wester Ross UNESCO Biosphere
Cuidich sinn le bhith a’ dèanamh cìnnteach gu bheil Tearmann Bith Chruinne Rois An Iar teàrainte san àm ri teachd.
For nearly ten years, the Wester Ross UNESCO Biosphere has been working to bring people and nature together across one of the most iconic parts of the Highlands. Our community-led charity works across more than 5,000 km² to support people, nature, culture and economy. Recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its outstanding environment and heritage, the Biosphere designation connects communities, schools, crofters, and businesses to deliver projects that:
- Celebrate local identity
- Strengthen Gaelic language and culture
- Support community-led tourism
- Encourage stewardship of our landscapes and seas
We’re a small team, supported by a volunteer Board of locally elected trustees. Despite our international recognition, everything we achieve is built on short-term project grants, a creative social enterprise model, and community commitment.
💚 Why We Need Your Help
An adhbhar a dh’fheumas sinn ur chuideachadh
Without short-term support, our small team is at risk - and with them, the ability to deliver the community work that defines the Biosphere.
2026 marks a huge milestone: our ten-year anniversary as a UNESCO Biosphere and the deadline for our first UNESCO Periodic Review, which will determine whether our communities keep the designation for the next decade.
Your support will give us time to keep our small team in place to:
- Complete the UNESCO review
- Secure our designation for the next decade
- Continue projects that help make Wester Ross a place where people and nature flourish together
Your contribution will help safeguard local jobs, sustain community engagement, and protect a global voice for our special Highland region.
🌿 What We’ve Achieved Together
Na coileanaidhean a chruthaich sinn còmhla
Over the past decade, we’ve worked on a variety of projects that celebrate our landscapes and communities:
🗺️ Community-led Place Planning — supporting communities to shape their own sustainable futures.
🏞️ Gaelic Place-Name Projects — safeguarding the stories held in our landscapes and reviving the language of place.
🔥 Research collaborations on wildfires, deer management, ecotourism, cultural landscapes, and digital woodlands.
🌾 Learning events on invasive species, local food, traditional skills, and climate resilience.
🌌 The Wester Ross Dark Skies Festival — lighting up the winter months and bringing people together under starry skies.
🎨 Creative projects like the Bilingual Nature Trail in Ullapool, using art and language to express our relationship with the land.
Every one of these projects began with local people coming together to imagine a more sustainable future.
🌅 Our Vision for the Next Ten Years
Ar sealladh agus ar n-amasan airson na deich bliadhna ri thighinn
The next decade is about deepening what we’ve started. With your help, we will be able to:
🌿 Secure Wester Ross’s UNESCO status for another ten years through the UNESCO Periodic Review
📚 Continue our work with Bòrd na Gàidhlig to strengthen Gaelic culture and learning
💼 Grow our social enterprise activities, building sustainable income that supports community-led work across the region
✨ Create more opportunities for young people, creatives and local enterprises
🌍 Support nature recovery and community resilience, helping people and place shape a shared future
Every contribution, large or small, helps us carry this work forward into our next chapter.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made