Water Friendly Landscapes

Land outside of Important Freshwater Landscapes and Historic Floodplains is arguably the most depleted for freshwater wildlife. Yet, these Water Friendly Landscapes can provide opportunities to create or restore unpolluted freshwater habitats.

Creating and restoring unpolluted freshwater habitats

Water Friendly Landscapes could be areas of woodland, land within nature reserves, re-wilded areas, unfertilised grassland, or areas of arable reversion. These are places where it is possible to create or restore freshwater habitats with clean, unpolluted water.

Because of their small catchments, small freshwaters are a particularly important component of Water Friendly Landscapes as they can be better protected from pollution, even in otherwise urban or intensively managed areas. Agri-environment schemes offer incentives for landowners to make less productive land work better for wildlife. Added to this, by restoring and creating small waterbodies in pockets of land protected from pollution, we can bring clean water back to our cities, towns and countryside.

Around 25% of England and Wales is made up of Water Friendly Landscapes where we can:

  • Create and restore small freshwater habitats to bring back clean water and extend the network of high-quality habitats for freshwater wildlife.
  • Reduce pollution inputs and de-intensify the landscape to maximise the extent of clean-water habitats.
Download the Freshwater Network brochure
Map of England and Wales, with Water Friendly Landscapes indicated in dark green and Important Freshwater Landscapes and Historic Floodplains in white.
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- Land outside of Important Freshwater Landscapes and Historic Floodplains has the potential to be a Water Friendly Landscape.

Our work in Water Friendly Landscapes

Discover more about our work to create and restore Water Friendly Landscapes and build the Freshwater Network.

Aerial view of digger next to large area of bare ground to create a pond.
Newt Conservation Partnership

Through the Newt Conservation Partnership, we’re creating high quality freshwater wildlife habitats in Wetland Opportunity Areas.

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Pond with tree reflected on the water, blue sky behind.
Water Friendly Farming

We’re testing the effectiveness of landscape-wide agri-environment measures and reducing the impact of rural land use in this Wetland Opportunity Area in Leicestershire.

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Pond in a field.
Pitsford Water Friendly Farming

A research project looking to understand how small landscape wide mitigation measures can help to protect and enhance the freshwater environment.

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Explore the Freshwater Network

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 Freshwater Network
Plants growing in shallow water
Important Freshwater Landscapes

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.

 

Important Freshwater Landscapes
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.

Historic Floodplains