Strengthening policy to protect and restore freshwater life

As the UK’s charity for all freshwaters, we are committed to reversing the long decline of freshwater life – including by working with policymakers. We focus on providing the best possible evidence to strengthen nature and water policy and create a better future for all freshwaters.

To drive policy change, we collaborate widely with organisations from across the environment sector and beyond, drawing on more than 35 years of freshwater research and conservation practice.

35 years of fighting for small waterbodies

Research by Freshwater Habitats Trust has revealed the primary role of small waters – including ponds, small streams and small wetlands – in supporting freshwater wildlife.

Making up the majority of the water environment and its most biodiverse part, small waters are a critically important but undervalued part of the freshwater network. Small waters are also easier to create and restore than large waterbodies, presenting an opportunity for us to rapidly boost freshwater biodiversity, and make freshwater ecosystems more resilient to growing threats such as climate change.

Because we are known for our expertise and practical experience in the conservation of ponds and other small waterbodies and wetlands, policymakers often look to us to provide the evidence needed for their protection.

We’re also known for speaking out for small waters, nationally and internationally.

Panel of people sitting behind a desk in front of a screen that reads NBS and the Water Convention

- Freshwater Habitats Trust CEO Professor Jeremy Biggs joins a panel of experts to present at a side event to the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14).

Read our policy reports

Headstart: Using headwater catchments to kickstart nature recovery March 2025

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The Charter for Small Waters December 2024

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Incorporating small freshwater habitats into your local Local Nature Recovery Strategy August 2024

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A Reset for Freshwaters: our call to the new government June 2024

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Protecting the whole freshwater landscape

We have a long history of working with all freshwaters, from flushes and fen fragments to large rivers. We were closely involved in some of the UK’s first large-scale river restoration projects, and still play an active role in shaping river restoration practice across the country.

The most important outcome of our early work was to show that, rather than focusing on rivers, lakes, ponds or wetlands in isolation, we needed to think about the whole of the water environment. Through our local and national policy work – such as with Local Nature Partnerships, Catchment Partnerships and the Catchment-Based Approach (CaBA) National Support Group – we strive to embed this perspective in the work of freshwater conservation actors across the country.

Catchment Partnerships

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

- Staff from Freshwater Habitats Trust, River Thame Conservation Trust and the Waddesdon estate, where we're created new habitats with our partners. Photo: Jill Mead.

Building the Freshwater Network

We’re working with policymakers to deliver a new approach to protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity.

The Freshwater Network is a new way of protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity in England and Wales. It’s a practical delivery approach to freshwater conservation and recovery, and a evidence-based framework to inform better policymaking. Developed by Freshwater Habitats Trust and partners, it unites important new ideas from research with fundamental conservation principles to build a better future for freshwater biodiversity.

The Freshwater Network

Aerial view of a landscape, including a meandering river and newly dug ponds.

Stronger together

We’re committed to working in partnership, so we collaborate with other NGOs, research organisations, businesses and government agencies. That means we can bring together the expertise that’s needed to really make an impact for freshwater.

As a member of Wildlife and Countryside Link, we regularly provide a voice for freshwaters and join forces with other conservation charities to affect policy change. We are often the voice of freshwater in other partnerships, for example Farm Wildlife.

We also work internationally and are members of the European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN). Together with partners across Europe and South America, we have produced a major publication for policymakers: Using ponds and pondscapes as nature-based solutions: Guidance for policy makers on the use of ponds and pondscapes as nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Wildlife and Countryside Link PONDERFUL policy guidance document

- Freshwater Habitats Trust CEO Professor Jeremy Biggs with Rebecca Pow MP, Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience at new habitats created in Buckinghamshire.

Policy

Strengthening policy to protect and restore freshwater life