Nature4Water

What will Warwickshire look like in 2050? Will there be enough water to grow food? Will our houses regularly flood? Will our economy be growing? Will people and wildlife be thriving?

Predicting the future is not easy, but research and data suggest we need to invest now in a more sustainable future before it's too late. That's why a partnership formed back in 2023 to develop a new way of funding a sustainable future for Warwickshire.

The goal is to show how investing in nature can help communities and businesses by making our water more resilient. In simple terms, this means having enough water during dry periods, reducing the risk of flooding when there’s too much water, and improving water quality overall. On top of that, nature projects can also benefit carbon storage, improve air quality, boost biodiversity and also deliver health and wellbeing benefits to people. All of these elements are critical to nature's recovery, in a future where extreme weather events as a result of climate change will become more frequent.

The idea is to encourage both public and private sector investment – including from industry or local manufacturers and Agri-businesses – into nature-based solutions that deliver these benefits. Creating 'nature markets' for investment.

The cost of inaction is clear, flooding for example has significant immediate and long-term economic costs and undermines the government’s growth mission. Droughts threaten our food security, and poor water quality is one of a number of factors that is leading the decline in our native wildlife. We need a more sustainable future, that enables sustainable economic growth, water security and nature's recovery.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Severn Trent, the Environment Agency, and Warwickshire County Council have been supported by The Nature Conservancy and Pegasys Consulting to develop a funding model for a sustainable Warwickshire. They have been mapping out where nature projects like tree planting, creating wetlands and ponds or installing leaky barriers, would bring the biggest benefits. They’ve also been working out how much this would cost and the value it could return to society.

In June 2025 we held a webinar to highlight the progress we have been making with this work and to invite you to join us in creating a more sustainable future.

Download our business case here.

Will you join us? 

Email nature4water@wkwt.org.uk to learn more.

Catch up on the webinar, and MP for Coventry East Mary Creagh CBE's launch speech, below.