The River Dee Trust’s One Million Trees initiative has won the prestigious Climate Campaign of the Year Award in the Holyrood Events Climate Action Awards 2024. The national accolade was presented on Tuesday 1^st October 2024 at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

The award recognises significant media campaigns that have successfully raised awareness, changed perception and engaged communities around the climate emergency.

The One Million Trees campaign was launched in 2020 with a target date of 2035 and an objective to provide cooling shade on one of Scotland’s most vulnerable major rivers, to save native species such as Atlantic salmon and pearl mussels from extinction and restore the freshwater ecosystem. Just four years into this 15-year campaign, over 484,000 native species of trees have been planted and the forecast is to pass the halfway marker of 500,000 trees during the next tree planting season in early 2025.

Dr Lorriane Hawkins, River Director said “We are humbled by the incredible support we have had from the wider media with this campaign, helping us to spread the word on T.V., radio and social media, it is great to see how so many people have taken the One Million Trees initiative to their hearts.”

The River Dee Trust conservation charity and Dee District Salmon Fishery Board work in close partnership with the Cairngorms National Park Authority, collaborating with landowners, land managers, keepers and many other stakeholders. Growing numbers of companies are supporting the Campaign because they see the critical importance of restoring biodiversity. Members of the public have been sponsoring tree enclosures as birthday and anniversary presents, or in memory of lost family members.

From the outset the initiative sought to unite members of the public, government, agencies, community groups and other stakeholders to support nature restoration on a landscape level.  This has involved continuous engagement through multiple channels and work to attract local, regional and national media attention. As part of the campaign, the River Dee Trust has successfully lobbied the Scottish Government to change its policy for funding riverside tree planting.

The Trust is delivering the One Million Trees Campaign in partnership with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and landowners.

To find out how you can get involved then visit the website here – https://riverdee.org.uk/one-million-trees/