THE Wallasea Island Wild Coast project has been awarded a Green Heart Hero award at a ceremony in Parliament.

Jeff Knott, RSPB’s Regional Director for Eastern England, travelled to the Houses of Parliament to attend the awards ceremony where he received the Outdoor Innovation award on behalf of the project.

Echo:

The awards – which range from accolades for green schools, businesses and MPs in recognition of sustainable sports projects and overseas schemes – were hosted by television and radio presenter Clive Anderson, and featured Sky News journalist Kay Burley, alongside a number of others.

Mr Knott said: “It’s great that decades of partnership work at Wallasea has received this recognition. It shows that we can work together to create inspiring new landscapes that deliver for people and wildlife.

“Climate change and loss of our wildlife are existential threats facing us all, but all the exciting projects and people recognised by the Green Heart Hero Awards show that we can deliver solutions to these twin crises.

“To secure the future of our shared home, we must continue to do so at even greater scale and the commitment and passion of everyone at the awards ceremony have me convinced that we will.”

The annual Green Heart Hero Awards are coordinated by The Climate Coalition, a group of more than 130 organisations – including the Women’s Institute, CAFOD, National Trust, WWF and the RSPB – who together represent over 15 million people nationwide.

Clive Anderson said: “The awards are the finale to a month long celebration of the things we love that could be lost forever to climate change.

“The campaign has been turning hearts green for Valentine’s Day for the last five years and this year’s campaign has reached more hearts than ever before.”

Wallasea Island Wild Coast project is a landmark conservation and engineering scheme – the largest of its type in Europe.

The Climate Coalition is holding events throughout the year for people to get involved with. Find out more at: theclimatecoalition.org