A solution to the freshwater biodiversity crisis

Life in freshwaters is under severe threat. Globally, these habitats and the species they support are among the most vulnerable parts of the natural world and there is clear evidence of the need for new measures to protect freshwater biodiversity. That’s why we’re building the Freshwater Network.

What is the Freshwater Network?

The Freshwater Network is a national network of wilder, wetter, cleaner, more connected habitats to stop and reverse the decline in freshwater biodiversity.

The network will be built around the existing hotspots for freshwater biodiversity. It will also include newly created and restored habitats to link freshwater habitats together.

To build the Freshwater Network, we’ve developed a practical delivery approach to freshwater conservation and recovery. Developed by Freshwater Habitats Trust and partners, the Freshwater Network unites important new ideas from research with traditional conservation concepts to build a better future for freshwater biodiversity.

Freshwaters are far more than just large rivers and lakes. Small freshwaters dominate – both in extent and biodiversity value. Different habitat types, and the interactions between them, are critical for freshwater wildlife. The Freshwater Network includes the full range of all aquatic and ‘wet terrestrial’ habitats.

- Stream in Dartmoor National Park, Devon

Our vision for the Freshwater Network

1 Protect the best

At the heart of the Freshwater Network is the simple, powerful concept: ‘protect first, then repair‘. Taking this approach means we can preserve high-quality habitats as a foundation for broader ecological recovery.

2 Start with the smallest

The Freshwater Network means a radical rethink: focus on small waters and wetlands because of their power to regenerate freshwater landscapes. These small habitats are often overlooked, yet they make up 80% of the freshwater environment1 and are critical for biodiversity.

3 Treat freshwaters as a network

Freshwater plants and animals need a network of different types of habitats for their populations to thrive – not just individual isolated ponds or stretches of river. Through the Freshwater Network, we can manage waterbodies as interconnected and interdependent habitats.

4 Bring back clean water

Clean water is vital for biodiversity but is now a very scarce resource. The Freshwater Network will restore unpolluted water in the landscape, taking a critical step for freshwater protection.

Building the Freshwater Network

The Freshwater Network will be created using two building blocks

To build a national network of wilder, wetter, cleaner, more connected habitats, we’re using two building blocks: Important Freshwater Areas and Wetland Opportunity Areas. This means we can protect the best habitats and build out from there.

Important Freshwater Areas

From upland river landscapes to lush lowland pondscapes, we need to restore and better manage these biodiversity hotspots where rare and threatened plant and animal species are still hanging on.

Important Freshwater Areas are the sites identified at regional, county or catchment level as freshwater biodiversity hotspots. They include:

Individual stretches of headwater streams with ‘High’ status Water Framework Directive invertebrate assemblages
Small fens designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
Ponds with Critically Endangered species, expanses of blanket bog or large floodplain nature reserves
Lakes and rivers designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) or SSSIs
Extensive areas of blanket bog or floodplain wet grassland.

Important Freshwater Areas

Pond with plants growing out of it under a blue, cloudy sky

- Pond at Cutteslowe, Oxfordshire

Wetland Opportunity Areas

Covering 25% of England and Wales, Wetland Opportunity Areas are places where we can make landscapes water friendly and restore freshwater biodiversity to drained and polluted towns and countryside.

Wetland Opportunity Areas are the gaps between the Important Freshwater Areas where we can build out and connect. Here, we can generate clean water to improve freshwater biodiversity and regenerate key habitats. We’ll create and restore clean water ponds, small lakes and wetland habitats including fens. Cleaning up the land can also make clean streams and rivers.

Wetland Opportunity Areas

Two men standing by a waterbody, one pointing to something in the distance

- David Morris (Freshwater Habitats Trust) and Richard Watson (National Trust) at a newly-created floodplain wetland mosaic habitat at Coleshill on the Oxfordshire-Wiltshire border.

Maximising recovery with the Freshwater Network

The Freshwater Network approach can be applied to all landscapes and at all spatial scales. To be strategic and achieve the most effective outcomes in the short to medium term, the Freshwater Network places a special emphasis on biodiversity delivery within three national geographic zones.

Pond with vegetation around and trees behind.

Important Freshwater Landscapes

Using the best available data, 24 of the most critical regions for freshwater biodiversity have been identified in England and Wales.

Find out more

Restoring Historic Floodplains

The Freshwater Network will restore historic freshwater hotspots inside the one in 100-year floodplain by building networks of high-quality freshwater sites for wildlife.

Find out more

Group of people walking down a hill through a field, with a large pond behind.

Water Friendly Landscapes

Here, habitats will be created and restored to provide pathways for species to move across the landscape, adding further links outside of Important Freshwater Landscapes and Historic Floodplains.

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Freshwater Network success

1 No reduction in the extent and quality of high-quality freshwater and wetland habitats.

This will ensure that the quality of Important Freshwater Areas (e.g. freshwater and wetland SSSIs and priority habitats) is maintained and where necessary restored.

2 At least double the number of clean water ponds.

The number of Priority Ponds in Good condition (based on PSYM13 assessment) will be on a measurable upward trajectory.

We single out ponds because they are so important to the recovery of freshwater biodiversity and the success of the Freshwater Network.

3 At least double the extent of other freshwater habitats at High status under Water Framework Directive.

This includes headwaters, larger rivers and lakes and other wetlands (e.g. fens, wet grasslands, reed beds, blanket bogs) at Favourable condition under the Habitats Regulations.

4 All freshwater Species of Conservation Concern have ranges and/or populations which are increasing in size.

5 Whole landscape freshwater biodiversity, currently completely unmonitored, is shown to be increasing as a true test of the Freshwater Network approach.

6 All freshwaters and wetlands are recognised and managed as an interdependent, but not necessarily physically connected, network.

Working together to create a better future for freshwater life

The Freshwater Network will bring together a network of partners. These range from close collaborators, working on joint projects with Freshwater Habitats Trust, to those who simply embed the principals and approaches of the Freshwater Network in their work.

Working together, we’ll apply the latest understanding of how freshwater ecosystems work as networks of habitats, ensuring the Freshwater Network is evidence-based and strategic. We’ll introduce new approaches when we know they’ll make a real difference. And we’ll also test new models of funding and organisation, so we can deliver for freshwater biodiversity.

You can support us to build the Freshwater Network and make a difference for wildlife.

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