Provide funding for a nationwide, nature-rich river corridor network.

Support farmers and landowners to make space for water with more, easily accessible funding schemes. We call on government to commit to providing financial incentives to help farmers create & maintain connected land along all river corridors (with buffers, wetlands, riparian tree planting) at scale.

Many UK rivers are heavily altered from their natural state & can have difficulty handling our changing environment. This can have potentially disastrous consequences for people & nature. For rivers to provide us with essential benefits, we think they urgently need space to recover. Connected, natural areas of land along river corridors can offer this space, and could help to: restore rivers; improve water quality; offer flood/drought resilience; boost biodiversity and help safeguard food production.

As a result of the June 2025 Spending Review, Defra secured a strong financial settlement. We are directing over £7 billion directed into nature’s recovery. This includes environmental farming schemes, tree planting, and peatland restoration. We recently published our revised Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, on Monday 1 December, which is backed by newly announced funding of £500 million for Landscape Recovery (LR) projects. These will make a significant contribution to the Environment Act and statutory net zero targets, including improving water quality, air quality, and spaces for wildlife so biodiversity can thrive, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes include the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), and LR. SFI includes an explicit action (BFS6) that pays for establishing and managing a minimum of 6 metres up to 12 metres wide strip beside watercourses. This has detailed rules on eligibility, management and evidence and with advice on establishment and ongoing maintenance.

The CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses. This includes actions such as: • CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats. • CSW12, which allows rivers to flow naturally across the floodplain to deliver benefits for biodiversity, flood and drought management and climate adaptation and wetland actions on fen, reedbed and wetland mosaics. • CWT13, which supports management and restoration of fen, reedbed and wetland mosaics. CWT14, which supports the creation of fen, reedbed or wetland mosaics.