Affric Highlands, a collaborative effort to restore nature in the central Highlands of Scotland, has been awarded the Nature and Climate Action Award at the prestigious Nature of Scotland Awards 2025, organized by RSPB Scotland.
The ceremony, held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) on November 20th, brought together 53 award finalists from all over Scotland to celebrate their contributions to supporting Scotland’s wildlife and natural environment. The event was hosted by BBC Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams and BBC Scotland Landward presenter Arlene Stuart.
The Nature of Scotland Awards recognize individuals and organizations making a difference in local communities, schools, and businesses to support wildlife and the environment. Affric Highlands, which brings together landowners, local communities, businesses, and partner organizations, aims to restore nature across more than 200,000 hectares of the central Highlands.
“We are deeply honored to receive this award,” said Stephanie Kiel, executive director of Rewilding Affric Highlands. “It recognizes the extraordinary commitment of our partners, landowners, and local communities who have embraced this vision for a healthier, more connected landscape.”
The initiative, coordinated by charity Rewilding Affric Highlands, covers a vast area stretching from Loch Ness to Kintail, including Glens Affric, Cannich, Moriston, Shiel and Urquhart. Through peatland restoration, native woodland expansion, nature-friendly land management, and reconnection of ecological corridors, Affric Highlands is boosting biodiversity, tackling climate change, and creating long-term benefits for people who live and work in the area.
According to Rewilding Affric Highlands, the collaborative approach is helping to secure the future of one of Scotland’s most iconic landscapes, while demonstrating the power of collaboration in achieving large-scale restoration for the benefit of wildlife, climate, and rural livelihoods.
In a recent development, both the world-famous Glen Affric National Nature Reserve managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and the Barrisdale Estate have joined Affric Highlands, bringing the landscape’s growing partnership to 21 landowners, covering a combined total of more than 81,000 hectares. Each landholding has signed a memorandum of understanding and is making its own decisions on nature restoration activities, with support and guidance from the Rewilding Affric Highlands team.
The initiative is encouraging more landowners to join, as the Affric Highlands landscape aims to cover over 700 square miles and is mostly owned by 56 large estates.
The Nature of Scotland Awards, delivered by RSPB Scotland and headline sponsor NatureScot, have been running for over a decade and aim to recognize and celebrate the passion and hard work of individuals and organizations working towards conservation and climate action. According to Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland, the awards showcase the incredible conservation work happening in every corner of the country and thank the winners for their contributions.
Professor Colin Galbraith, chair of awards headline sponsor NatureScot, also praised the award winners for their creativity, commitment, and achievements in helping nature and everyone across Scotland.
Affric Highlands is a member of Rewilding Europe’s family of major European-wide flagship rewilding landscapes, which include Sweden’s Nordic Taiga and Italy’s Central Apennines.
In April 2025, Rewilding Affric Highlands launched as an independent charity, having previously operated as a joint venture led by Trees for Life since 2021, with support from Rewilding Europe. This followed the initiative’s first three years as Trees for Life’s East-West Wild project, which involved extensive preparation and local consultation.
For more details on Affric Highlands, please visit affrichighlands.org.
