Who: The Alliance for Wales’ Rainforests, a collaborative partnership of organisations whose remit is to protect and restore temperate rainforest habitats and associated species, which are under threat but hold huge ecological, environmental and cultural value for Wales.
Did you know? When we hear “rainforest” we immediately think of the Amazon’s tropical rainforests. But many hundreds of years ago, most of Wales was covered in forests (as was the west of Britain). Near the sea, in areas where the weather is temperate (never too warm and never too cold) and it is wet all year round, specific species of plants (mosses, liverworts, ferns, and lichens) grow on the ground and the old trees. This combination of the right climate and the presence of marker species, makes a woodland a temperate rainforest. They are very rare at global scale, but are homes to significant and highly localised species.
While the ancient forests in Wales were all temperate rainforests, today a lot of Wales’ rainforests are gone because how of land use has changed. But there are still small pockets of rainforests dotted about. When you visit they are spooky, magical places! They feature in many ancient stories (like in the Mabinogion). The Alliance members all work individually to protect and improve the temperate rainforests that still exist in Wales, and together they hope to accelerate and join up their work.
The brief: A 6-month contract to consolidate the recently formed partnership, with a comprehensive governance and strategic framework.
The Alliance for Wales’ Rainforests (AWR) first came together a couple of years ago and their first task was to produce the State of Wales’ Rainforests Report, which was released in November 2025 (while I was involved in the project). The AWR founding members I worked with are: Coed Cadw (Woodland Trust in Wales), Wildlife Trust Wales, Eryri National Park Authority (Celtic LIFE Rainforests project), National Trust Cymru, RSPB Cymru, Plantlife Cymru and Natural Resources Wales. Eventually, they intend to hire a programme manager to coordinate and support their rainforest protection and restoration efforts. But for now while the AWR doesn’t have any staff, they need to build on the foundations they laid and their initial progress; so my role focused on creating a solid foundation of governance structures, strategic aims, and operational procedures, from which members would be able to further develop their work – and which the future programme manager would be able to use as a basis for their role, at least initially.
What I did: After some initial background research I spent 5 months meeting with AWR members and other stakeholders (like people from the equivalent Scottish alliance, and the UK network of temperate rainforest alliances). I designed and ran 4 strategic workshops with AWR core group members and working group leads (one day in person in Shrewsbury, and 3 sessions online). Oh and I helped with the report launch event in November at the Senedd!
The last month was dedicated to collating the outputs and designing some visuals to accompany my notes. It was a big endeavour throughout, of thinking, sensemaking, analysis, and articulating the models of what was and what could be. I wrote up everything I learned, heard, and asked about – and all the outcomes of the discussions I held and facilitated. The final report included the current and future governance frameworks, thematic strategic priorities to feed into workstreams and work plans, and a suite of draft documents linked to membership and recruitment. It came in at nearly 100 pages long and approximately 27,000 words – and while I know quantity does not simply indicate quality, I mention it because it was a hefty piece of work! I spent a total of 40 days over 6 months on this project, and I am pleased with the contents and quality of the report, and my presentation on the final day too.
What they said:
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you to you – you were an absolute life-saver with making this event happen.” (report launch)
“You do a lot of background stuff, I can tell – I am very impressed.”(strategic session 3)
“I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and I appreciate you taking the time to include me in meetings and listen to my input.” (working group member)
“Your presentation this morning was so clear. I am so impressed.” (final presentation)
“I’m really pleased we brought you in – you have done a brilliant job of bringing people together, asking some very pertinent questions and making progress in a way that just wasn’t happening before. I am very much looking forward to seeing what we do next!” (core group member)
Photo by nation.cymru