Just Transition Fund award will support restoration, monitoring and community engagement across the River Dee catchment.
The River Dee Trust has secured £500k funding from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund to help restore and strengthen the River Dee catchment in response to climate change and biodiversity loss.
The award will support the Trust’s innovative Save the Spring programme, a 20-year vision in partnership with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and Atlantic Salmon Trust, to regenerate the river and its wider catchment through landscape-scale nature restoration and wild fish repopulation, improved resilience and stronger community involvement.
Alongside practical restoration, the project will create opportunities for education, training, volunteering and community involvement, helping people play an active role in shaping the future of their river and developing skills linked to the green economy.
The Dee is already recognised nationally for large-scale nature restoration. NatureScot has selected it as a national exemplar project, and the Scottish Government’s Environment and Economy Leaders’ Group has identified it as a pioneer catchment for new public-sector approaches to the climate and biodiversity crises.
The investment will build on this work, supporting habitat restoration designed to help the river withstand flooding, drought and rising temperatures.
River Dee Trust Chair, Sandy Bremner, said: “This is brilliant news and the timing couldn’t be better. The river has been subjected to catastrophic floods, dangerously high water temperatures and near drought conditions over recent years, with projections of worse to come. Precious species are under threat and our communities and businesses are facing multiple impacts.
“This funding will help us ramp up delivery of the pioneering, landscape-scale work we are already producing with our partners. We are now at a critical moment. With the active support of landowners and managers, along with increased public engagement we have a golden opportunity to deliver for people and nature.”
The programme will be delivered in partnership with landowners and land managers, local authorities, river users, environmental organisations and communities across the catchment.
The River Dee Trust has a strong track record in conservation, restoration and community engagement. The Just Transition Fund award will help expand this work through a longer-term strategic approach.
The work will also contribute to Scotland’s ambitions to tackle climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and support a fairer transition to a greener economy.