Latest News

‘Terrible mess’: Anaerobic digestate kills 10,000 fish in headwaters of salmon spawning ground

Friday, August 16, 2019

Thousands of fish have died in an important salmon spawning headwater as a result of anaerobic digestate entering in the River Mole in north Devon, according to the Environment Agency (EA), which said it was the region's "largest ever fish kill".

The agency said yesterday that it had completed its initial assessment into the incident and identified the source and pollutant but that it was continuing to investigate.

The Impact of Wildfires on Water

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

As the climate changes and global temperatures continue to rise, the wildfire season in the United States grows longer. These wildfires are burning hotter, consuming more acres of land, and leaving paths of destruction unlike ever before. Often started by something as small as a spark, wildfires can consume and destroy miles of landscape as well as shift the balance of vital ecosystems. As wildfires continue to grow more and more destructive, we are forced to plan and strategize methods to prevent and contain them.

How does a wildfire start?

Is it time the UK moves away from a grey world and into a blue-green one?

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) have become increasingly popular in recent years with Wales leading the way, setting out legislation requiring a SuDS design/ consideration for any site with more than one building or a development area greater than 100m2. This indicates we are moving away from the traditional grey (hard engineering) approach to a more natural blue-green approach.

Finding meaning in rewilding

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

​Rewilding is held back by quibbles over its precise definition and scope - we need simply to embrace it.

Rewilding is a simple concept: giving land back to wildlife and wildlife back to the land.

To rewild is to restore natural processes, revive degraded habitats, reintroduce species either missing or depleted, and then step back and watch as the ecosystem becomes self-willed and self-regulating once again in an alchemy of flux, dynamism and unpredictability.

New agreement with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation helps implement 13 river improvement projects across England

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

The Rivers Trust has just signed an exciting new agreement with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (EFF) to provide financial loans to local Rivers Trusts to help them implement 13 river improvement projects across England.

The loans will enable local Rivers Trusts to cash-flow the implementation of their Water Environment Grant projects – a government grant scheme which provides funding to improve the water environment in rural England. Once the projects have been completed and reimbursed by WEG, the loan will be returned to EFF.

Human activity means UK peatlands contribute to climate change

Monday, July 8, 2019

The UK’s peatlands are making a significant contribution to our greenhouse gas emissions because of the way they are managed, a major study has shown.

Peatlands occupy 12% of the UK’s land area and store vast quantities of carbon. Healthy peatlands capture carbon dioxide (CO­2) from the atmosphere and so can help to offset the effects of human activities such as fossil fuel burning that are raising CO2 levels in the atmosphere, leading to climate change. 

However, around 80% of the UK’s peatlands have been significantly affected by the way they are managed, such as:

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