Credit: Chivas Brothers
Pernod Ricard Scotch business unveils long-term collaboration to preserve and protect Scottish rivers and waterways that feed its whisky making
Pernod Ricard's Scotch whisky business Chivas Brothers has today announced a long-term partnership to preserve, protect, and improve the health of some of Scotland's rivers and waterways.
The maker of brands including The Glenlivet and Aberlour has joined forces with the Deveron, Bogie, and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust, Findhorn, Nairn, and Lossie Rivers Trust, and the Spey Catchment Initiative to protect and restore waterways within the Trusts' combined catchment areas in North East Scotland totalling of 5,566 square kilometres.
According to the drinks maker, just over a third of Scotland's rivers are in compromised ecological health, meaning that by the end of this century they could face three times as many droughts and up to 40 per cent more flooding as a result of climate change.
As such, Chivas Brothers' funding will focus on enhancing biodiversity, limiting rises to water temperature from climate change, and strengthening the longer-term resilience of the rivers, some of which flow through Chivas Brothers-owned land and feed into its Scotch production.
Julie Gallacher, head of sustainability and responsibility at Chivas Brothers, described Scotland's waterways as the "lifeblood" of whisky making. "So while we use this precious resource responsibly, returning 96 per cent of what we use to its source, we like to think there's a 'river within' each bottle," she said. "Many of our distilleries are built on the banks of treasured Scottish rivers and it's from these waters that our renowned whiskies are endowed with their unique spirit, essence and even their names.
"Just as we rely on the rivers, the rivers rely on us. The art of whisky making is a delicate balance, so too is the Scottish landscape in which we craft it. That is why we are proud to launch this partnership with the three River Trusts to protect and build a resilient network of Scottish rivers and riverbanks that support biodiversity for generations to come."
A range of specific waterway projects are currently being developed in tandem with the three River Trusts this year to help increase biodiversity and overall river health. For example, simple practical interventions such as planting new trees along rivers can provide additional shade that helps limit river temperature rises and strengthen riverbanks.
Richard Miller, director at The Deveron, Bogie, and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust, said the projects could also help replenish Scotland's endangered Atlantic Salmon population.
"We are delighted to be a partner in 'The River Within' programme which will provide essential resources to ensure Deveron fish stocks have free access to cold, clean, water," he said. "This will be achieved by removing obstacles to fish passage, creation of 3D buffer strips along field margins, riparian planting, fish refuge creation and habitat restoration."
The announcement comes in the wake of a number of high-profile funding announcements to protect Britain's waterways and build flood resilience.
For example, Defra recently announced that £180m of water company investment has been "fast-tracked" over the next 12 months to tackle sewage pollution in English waterways, while a new fund to mobilise investment in nature-based projects that can bolster water security in East Anglia was formally launch at the end of February in a bid to raise £30m of new investment.
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