The Scottish Government is providing funding worth more than £2.9 million to help tackle the nature and climate crises.

Projects that restore Scotland’s rainforest and protect some of the country’s most threatened wildlife will share the funding.

One of the projects has been awarded more than £1.3 million to restore the country’s rainforest by helping to control invasive rhododendron and manage the impacts of wild deer to promote the recovery of the forest ecosystem.

Another five-year partnership project, Species on the Edge, will receive £500,000 to support 37 of Scotland’s most vulnerable species such as the great yellow bumblebee and the Scottish primrose.

In addition, £200,000 will be given to the Green Action Trust to help expand nature networks, supporting their work with local communities to create and restore woodlands and wetlands.

Biodiversity Minister Lorna Slater said: “The interlinked crises of nature loss and climate change need urgent action across government and society. A healthy natural environment with restored and thriving biodiversity is also crucial to both our wellbeing and our economy.

“That is why we are continuing to support and build on a wide programme of enhancing nature protections. This new package of funding adds to our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, which supports projects across Scotland – on land and at sea – that address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.”

The Scottish Government intends to publish a new Biodiversity Strategy for Scotland, which will set out what the country’s natural environment needs to look like by 2045 in order to reverse biodiversity decline and protect the environment for the future.