Thanks to £900,000 of Darwin Plus funding, work can continue to improve St Helena’s incredible habitats
5 min read
St Helena is a remote island and UK Overseas Territory located in the Atlantic Ocean, around 1,874 km west of the mainland African continent.
The island’s misty mountain peaks boast fragments of cloud forest, a type of high-altitude forest. The cloud forest supports incredible wildlife, including 250 endemic species found nowhere else on earth. This includes the Spiky Yellow Woodlouse, which glows in the dark under UV light, Golden Sail Spiders and the Black Cabbage Tree, one of several species in the daisy family that have evolved into trees.
The cloud forest is vitally important for the island’s water. Native plants capture the mist, and then funnel it to the ground below. This then provides as much as 60% of St Helena’s fresh water on the island.
But the cloud forest is under threat. Just 16 hectares of original forest fragments remain, within a 291 hectare national park. The native trees, important for capturing the mist, are under pressure from tree diseases. Invasive species, including the common wasp, one of the top 100 most destructive invasive species, plus invasive ants, and termites, also threaten the local wildlife.
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But there’s hope that these issues can now be addressed, thanks to funding for a three-year work programme, taking place from October 2025 to September 2028. This builds on the years of work, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The funding will enable work to increase the cloud forest habitat to continue. This includes clearing invasive plants, and planting around 10,000 extra native plants.
It also means staff on the ground can obtain more comprehensive data on how to manage the island’s water, and target cloud forest restoration in areas to increase water availability
The work will be carried out by three partners on the island: the St Helena Government, St Helena National Trust, and Connect Saint Helena.
"This project represents real hope for one of the world’s most fragile and extraordinary ecosystems. Restoring St Helena’s cloud forest is not a short-term task. It is an ongoing battle to protect the heart of our island’s natural heritage and the water security our community depends on. We are deeply grateful to Darwin Plus for their continued support.
This funding not only enables us to restore native habitat and tackle invasive species, but also ensures we can retain the skilled staff on the ground whose knowledge, commitment and daily efforts make this work possible.
"Without sustained investment in both people and restoration, our long-term vision for a resilient and connected cloud forest simply could not be achieved.”
