A major community led environmental project in Orkney is aiming to transform one of Scotland’s most vulnerable coastlines into a national example of how island communities can fight back against climate change through large scale habitat restoration and long term environmental resilience.

The Growing Sanday Land and Sea project has secured support through the Rewilding Innovation Fund run by Rewilding Britain as the organisation passed a landmark £1 million milestone in grants distributed to projects across Britain.

For the island of Sanday though, the work is about much more than environmental restoration alone.

It is about the long term future of a fragile island community facing increasingly serious threats from rising sea levels, stronger storms and coastal erosion that is already reshaping parts of the coastline.

Sanday, one of Orkney’s northern isles, is particularly exposed because much of the island lies only a few metres above sea level.

Some areas have already experienced dune losses of up to 37 metres as natural coastal defences continue disappearing under pressure from changing weather patterns and erosion.

Rather than relying entirely on expensive hard engineering projects, the Sanday initiative is focusing on restoring natural systems capable of protecting the coastline while also improving biodiversity and marine health.

The project plans to restore dunes, saltmarshes and kelp forests around the island, helping absorb wave energy, stabilise vulnerable areas and create stronger natural buffers against storms and flooding.

The wider ambition is to make Sanday a centre of excellence for nature based coastal resilience and create lessons that can eventually help other island and coastal communities facing similar challenges across Scotland and beyond.

The project is being led by the Sanday Development Trust which believes island communities can play a leading role in shaping future climate adaptation strategies.

Kieron Brogan Wadley, Community Development and Operations Manager at Growing Sanday Land and Sea, said:

“Through the Growing Sanday Land & Sea project, we are working to turn a challenge from nature into an opportunity.

“By restoring our dunes, saltmarshes, kelp forests and wider coastal habitats, we hope to make Sanday a living example of what an island community can achieve.

“With Rewilding Britain’s support, our ambition is to establish Sanday as a centre of excellence in nature based coastal resilience, sharing what we learn for the benefit of other island and coastal communities.”

The latest funding round from Rewilding Britain also includes projects focused on restoring marine habitats in Wales, biodiversity recovery work in Dorset and peatland and woodland restoration initiatives within the Cairngorms National Park.

Rebecca Wrigley, Chief Executive of Rewilding Britain, said the growing demand for support reflected a major shift in how communities are now approaching environmental challenges and climate threats.

She said:

“The growing demand for funding shows the rapid rise of rewilding across Britain.

“Communities are moving beyond reactive, short term interventions and instead working with nature to address rising environmental challenges.

“These are exactly the kinds of initiatives that the Rewilding Innovation Fund aims to support.”

The environmental and economic importance of peatlands, saltmarshes and marine ecosystems has increasingly become a major focus for governments and conservation organisations as Scotland attempts to meet climate targets while also protecting rural and island communities from worsening environmental pressures.

For places such as Sanday, however, the issue feels far more immediate and personal.

The coastline is not simply scenery.

It protects homes, roads, farmland, wildlife habitats and the long term sustainability of the island itself.

Projects such as Growing Sanday Land and Sea increasingly highlight how climate adaptation in Scotland may ultimately depend not just on national policy or infrastructure spending, but on local communities finding practical ways to work with the environment around them.

In Sanday’s case, the hope is that restoring nature may also help secure the future of the island for generations still to come.