THE RIVER WITHIN
Preserving, protecting and improving the health of rivers and waterways in Scotland.
Preserving, protecting and improving the health of rivers and waterways in Scotland.
Every whisky we make starts with a river. Scotland’s rivers shape our landscapes, support wildlife and are essential to the whiskies we craft. Without healthy rivers, there is no whisky, no legacy to pass on. That’s why we’re taking action.
Alongside three charitable trusts: The Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust; Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Rivers Trust; and the Spey Catchment Initiative, we’re working to preserve and protect these vital waterways.
Rivers are getting warmer due to climate change, so we’re planting trees to provide shade, cooling the water and protecting fish and wildlife. Livestock grazing on riverbanks is preventing natural regeneration and causing erosion, so we’re building fences to allow vegetation to recover and build resilience. Past forestry and agriculture have straightened rivers, disrupting their natural flow – we’re helping rivers recover their natural bends to slow the water, reduce flooding and allow wildlife to thrive.
By taking direct action along riverbanks and waterways, we’re restoring biodiversity, strengthening ecosystems, and ensuring Scotland’s rivers continue to support our landscapes, our communities and the whisky we love.
Three projects have begun in close partnership with The Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust; Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Rivers Trust, along with the Spey Catchment Initiative, including a fluvial audit and topographical study, riparian planting, woodland restoration and fencing to promote natural regeneration of an ancient riverine woodland.
The outcomes of these will help to mitigate the impact of climate change and increase biodiversity and overall health of the river ecosystem on Scotland’s waterways and riverbanks.
We like to think there is a river within every dram of whisky.
Rivers give whisky life. Rivers give Scotland life.
Each of our distilleries is built on the banks of an iconic Scottish river. We draw from these waters, and from them our whiskies are born, endowing them with their unique spirit, essence, even their names.
Just as the art of whisky is a delicate balance, so too is the Scottish landscape where we craft it. Created over millennia, the landscapes and ecosystems we call home form a deep, interconnected network of plants and vegetation, animals on land and below the water. Each play their essential role, nurturing and sustaining the waterways on which we depend.
Just as we rely on the rivers, the rivers rely on us. Today climate change is disrupting the delicate balance of our terroir— changing when and where it rains and even the temperature of the waterways themselves. These changes threaten the rich diversity of life in and around the waters and burns of Scotland. They threaten the very future of whisky – from how much we can make to the flavour profile and how it could taste.
Whisky is legacy. We craft it thinking about those who will enjoy it 10, 12, even 25 years from now. This is why Chivas Brothers is acting today to safeguard, protect and preserve the waters, banks and burns that give our whisky life.
Anyone who has enjoyed a dram of Scotch has the waters of Scotland within them.
These waters connect us all.
Join us as we raise a glass to the waters of Scotland, protecting whisky today and for generations to come.
A range of specific waterway projects are currently being developed in close partnership with The Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust, Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Rivers Trust, and the Spey Catchment Initiative, to commence later this year. These focus on direct activity along riverbanks and waterways designed to help increase biodiversity and overall health of the river ecosystem. This in turn will help limit the rise of water temperatures, preserve floodplain resilience and increase river security. 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.
Read the full press release here.
To find out more about our partners, head to the Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust, Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Rivers Trust, and the Spey Catchment Initiative.
To learn more about the threats facing our waterways, please visit Fisheries Management Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.
