Making Space for Water
Modified, polluted, and unable to keep pace with our changing climate, our damaged rivers need space to recover. Get behind the campaign and help us Make #SpaceForWater.
Modified, polluted, and unable to keep pace with our changing climate, our damaged rivers need space to recover. Get behind the campaign, add your name to the petition, and help us Make #SpaceForWater.
Join The Rivers Trust, National Trust, Woodland Trust, and Beaver Trust in calling for the UK Government to support farmers and landowners with funding to restore nature-rich river corridors. Farmers and landowners are on the frontline of climate and water challenges, and they urgently need more support.
We need change
Our heavily modified rivers aren't fit for purpose, and can't keep up with our changing climate. The UK faces a growing water scarcity crisis, and our rivers and landscape need to be restored to store more water and better recharge groundwaters. We have some of the unhealthiest rivers in Europe - only a third of the UK's river stretches are in good ecologial health. Biodiversity in the UK is declining and these spaces should be nature's highways, but instead are left in persistently poor condition as a result of the disconnect between activity on land and the impact on water.
Nature-rich river corridors can:
🦋 Restore nature with connected corridors that support wildlife
💧 Protect communities from flooding and drought
🌳 Improve water quality and clean up rivers
🌡️ Boost climate resilience and support farmers
We're asking the Westminster Government to:
- Publish a River Corridor Restoration Plan - to create a network of connected, nature-rich, multifunctional river corridors, including river buffers, riparian tree planting and wetland initiatives all delivered at scale, making space for water
- Develop River Corridor Bundle payments - develop targeted and simplified financial incentives for farmers and landowners to restore and enhance river corridors, including River Corridor Bundle payments for river buffers, wetlands and riparian tree planting.
- Support the development of ‘a King’s Chain’ - a simple and compelling mechanism outlining how the vision of wildlife corridors will be delivered across the nation.
Read the full briefing
We have produced a briefing document making the case for nature-rich river corridors in England, for use by MPs, decision-makers, and campaign supporters. It contains more detailed information on what we're asking the Westminster government, and case studies from across England and Wales in which different riparian restoration works have positively impacted the local landscape, wildlife and community.
How do we Make Space for Water?
When we roll back urban or agricultural activities from the riverbanks, there are many ways to make space for water and give rivers room to recover and restore natural processes. Allowing space around rivers will unlock the ability to deliver a wider range of spatially targeted, proven, cost-effective nature-based interventions that benefit both people and wildlife. We need our river corridors to be enhanced and restored with:
- River buffers
- Riparian trees and woodlands
- Wetlands
- Floodplain meadows
- River wiggling and naturalisation
- Beaver populations
What the campaign has achieved so far:
To begin engaging politicians, we held a launch event for Making Space for Water at the Houses of Parliament, at which Emma Hardy MP (Minister for Water and Flooding) delivered a speech, and Lloyd Hatton MP shared a letter from the Prime Minister. Our public petition opened the same day, calling for signatories to stand behind our ask – that the Westminster government provide accessible, useful funding schemes to allow farmers and landowners to make space for water alongside rivers. It received the required 10,000 signatures, triggering a positive government response and offered a springboard for a debate in parliament on protecting and restoring rivers.
The partnership also hand-delivered a letter to the Prime Minister signed by cross-party MPs calling for campaign support, held meetings with No. 10 special advisers, and hosted a panel discussing how restoring rivers in this way can revive landscapes and protect communities at the Labour Party Conference.
Making Space for Water is a campaign from the Riverscapes Partnership - a coalition of The Rivers Trust, National Trust, The Woodland Trust and Beaver Trust, with key support from The Wildlife Trusts and River Restoration Centre.
