innocent drinks is scattering the seeds of the rewilding movement as they launch The Big Rewild with garden guru Diarmuid Gavin. Photo: Andres Poveda

Juicy campaign starts to rewild the country

Scattering the seeds of the rewilding movement, innocent drinks has just launched plans to rewild the planet by protecting and preserving two million hectares of land by 2025.

Scattering the seeds of the rewilding movement, innocent drinks has just launched plans to rewild the planet by protecting and preserving two million hectares of land by 2025.

In Ireland, the company with little drinks and big dreams is working with garden guru Diarmuid Gavin and online planting platform Grown Forest in its Big Rewild campaign to plant 10,000 native trees this year. According to statistics issued as part of the campaign, the Republic of Ireland currently has the lowest forest cover of any country in Europe with just under 2%.

At one time is it believed that 80% of the country was covered in forest. The term rewilding means giving places back to nature by planting, growing and looking after the land.

According to a survey carried out by innocent drinks, 86% of those that took part care about Ireland’s wild and natural environment, but 74% feel they don’t have as much knowledge on the issue as previous generations. The survey also showed 2 in 10 people believed that Ireland’s wilderness is thriving, while 72% are worried about the loss of true Irish wilderness.

This was further illustrated when participants were asked to identify the brands behind 5 logos while also naming the native Irish trees that five leaves belonged to. On average, 79% of those asked could identify all brands but only 14% could identify the leaves they were shown.”

These results inspired innocent drinks to create the Big Rewild School with a mission to help people become more wilderness-literate. The school is a free event open for families to come along for a day of fun in nature and includes a hike in the Wicklow Mountains. Speaking at the launch of the Big Rewild initiative, innocent drinks Country Manager Keith Nelson said: “We’re so proud to announce our big rewild plans, globally and in Ireland with Grown Forest who are doing amazing work to ensure we plant more native Irish trees. We want to empower communities to learn more about our wilderness. When we know more about something we’re better placed to look after.”

Garden guru Diarmuid Gavin added: “I’ve been passionate about rewilding for years so I was delighted when innocent drinks asked me to work with them. We’re known as the emerald isle but with just 2% native trees, without action our native wildlife will disappear.” For more information on the campaign, visit the bigrewild.ie.