WWF Scotland

Charity Awards

'Rivers run wild for WWF Scotland'

WWF Scotland's pioneering wild rivers initiative was described as really fantastic by the judges. This innovative river management project was designed to raise the profile of river management and its significance to Scotland.

In the mid 1990s, when the project was first being discussed, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency was only just beginning to seriously address the habitat quality of rivers. Early results indicated that some 90 per cent of Scotland's floodplains have been altered, either drained for agriculture or used for housing or landfill.

In response, Wild Rivers actively promoted restoring the natural features of Scotland's rivers; these improve water quality and create richer habitats, a healthier environment, and more economically productive and sustainable resources such as native timber and fish stocks. The project's results were groundbreaking and secured significant, environmentally beneficial changes in policy, practice and legislation, including the Water Environment Water Services (Scotland) Act.

We achieved changes that will have an important effect right across the country, says Elizabeth Leighton, senior policy officer. Other European countries are looking at our work as a successful model. We're ahead of the game, not only in legislation but in the educational system we have put together.

Simon Pepper
Chief executive
8 The Square
Aberfeldy
Ph25 2DD
01887 820 449
Reg no. 1081247
www.wwf.org.uk/scotland

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.