Our scorched landscape is why we need to solve flooding 

Reading the news this summer means scrolling through headlines of how the world is literally on fire.

As of writing, UK is in the midst its fifth heat wave and over two-thirds of England are now in drought. Brigades have worked continuously for the past four days to put out a fire spreading across the New Forest, with fire fighters worried that extreme temperatures will only make the situation worse.

I recognise that talking about flooding at a time when the country is parched and on fire comes across as poorly timed. But fires, drought, and flooding are not separate crises but an expression of the same problem that landscapes have lost their ability to hold water. 

That is why this moment demands more than emergency responses or a COBR meeting. We have to adapt to the impacts of climate change while continuing to reduce emissions. Adaptation without mitigation leaves the underlying problem untouched. Mitigation without adaptation leaves communities increasingly vulnerable to the consequences already unfolding around us. 

Natural Flood Management offers one of the rare opportunities to do both. 

At first glance, it may seem odd to argue for flood management in the middle of a drought. Yet restoring Britain’s natural landscapes addresses both extremes. Healthy peatlands, wetlands and floodplains slow the movement of water through the landscape. They absorb heavy rainfall when it arrives, reduce downstream flooding, and gradually release water during dry periods. 

Peatlands are especially important. They cover around 12% of the UK’s land area and represent one of the country’s most valuable natural assets. But since industrialisation, many have been drained for agriculture and housing developments. Once drained, peat shrinks, dries and loses its remarkable capacity to store water. Rainfall that would once have been absorbed instead races into rivers, increasing flood risk downstream. During prolonged dry weather the land becomes dry fodder for wildfires.  

The economic consequences of losing our peatlands are already becoming impossible to ignore. Millions of properties across the UK are now at risk of flooding. At the same time, recent analysis by Public First estimates that water scarcity could cost the UK £25 billion over the next five years by preventing planned econmic developments from going ahead.  Our growth agenda increasingly depends on restoring natural systems. 

Wetland restoration offers one of the few investments that addresses our environmental risks while promising growth. Wetlands generate new income streams for farmers and landowners through biodiversity credits and other environmental payments, helping to finance further restoration rather than relying solely on public subsidy. 

None of this is theoretical. Across Britain, Natural Flood Management projects have demonstrated that reconnecting floodplains, planting woodland, and rewetting peatlands can reduce flood risk while improving ecosystems and supporting local economies. Natural Flood Management works. The problem is that we are suffering from “pilotitis”, a disease whose main symptom is the failure to scale small, successful pilot projects into more widespread and systemic interventions. 

Ending pilotitis begins with the water sector. 

Water companies in England and Wales will invest a record £104 billion over the current regulatory period. Yet only a small fraction has been allocated to nature-based solutions. Most investment remains focused on traditional engineering such as concrete flood defences, storage tanks and barriers. 

Britain will always need reservoirs, embankments and flood walls. But allocating roughly 5% of new water investment towards nature-based solutions would direct billions towards green infrastructure that directly addresses floods, droughts, water quality and fires. 

Local government is critical too. Through mechanisms such as Community Infrastructure Levies, local authorities can help fund landscape-scale restoration that protects communities before disasters occur. 

The Environment Agency has an equally important role. It has dedicated funding for Natural Flood Management, but far more of its existing budget could support nature-based projects. This is not primarily a question of spending more public money. It is about spending existing  

Roads, railways, airports, electricity networks and other critical infrastructure all face growing flood risks. Infrastructure operations have begun experimenting with Natural Flood Management to protect vulnerable sites. The next step is coordination. Rather than dozens of isolated pilots, these operators should be investing together across entire catchments where upstream interventions can protect multiple assets. Prevention is far more productive than paying for damage. 

Coordination is a cure for pilotitis. That’s why The Conduit helped launch the FloodAction Coalition in November 2025. Chaired by Aviva, we have grown to over 80 organisations – from infrastructure owners to insurers, utilities, investors, environmental organisations and the UK’s biggest landowners to create the financial and institutional support needed to scale NFM beyond isolated pilots and into a £1 billion market for water resilience.

We are very encouraged by the desire of government to support and accelerate this approach. Starting next year we aim to roll out nature-based water resilience in catchments across the country – helping to absorb water when there is too much and recharge and release when there is too little.  It’s remarkable how simple and effective nature can be when you give it a chance. 

Climate change is moving faster than our institutions, and we no longer have the luxury of testing what already works. The challenge now is deploying solutions at the scale our economy, our communities and our environment demand.