Rivers Trust Conference: water at the heart of climate resilience

Water is the life source of our planet and therefore it must be at the heart of policies and projects mitigating the effects of climate change and building a society that is better prepared for its consequences. We know that the impacts of the climate crisis will be felt first and most dramatically through the effects on water resources. Changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures will result in more floods, more droughts and greater vulnerability to pollution. To build resilience, we need to anticipate what the risks will be, understand what we want to protect and prioritise, and mobilise to accelerate the recovery of our depleted natural water resources.

The Rivers Trust Conference, due to the health alert situation, this time it was also done online. The event lasted two days:

Day One (16/03/2021)

It had a particular focus on European projects. With keynote speeches from Tony Juniper and Laurence Couldrick, the programme recognised some of the most innovative climate resilience initiatives from across the continent. It also addressed questions of how these projects can be supported, and how the UK can continue to cooperate internationally, in the post-Brexit era.

Keynotes

• Water at the heart of climate resilience (Dr Laurence Couldrick)
• Natural Course Ecological Network Tool (Tom Smart)
• Source to Tap (Lisa Stewart)
• The Interreg North Sea Region Topsoil project (Stephen Dury)
• Triple C project (Stephen Dury)
• Triple-C: Capitalising Climate Change projects in Risk management for a better AA resilience (Diego Intrigliolo)
• Water for Tomorrow (Jessie Leach)

Day Two (17/03/2021)

It covered several topics within water and climate resilience. Presentations and panel discussions were delivered on some of most prominent themes in the environment sector, including citizen science monitoring and addressing the links systemic inequality and climate change. Keynote speeches were delivered by Liv Garfield, Simmone Ahiaku, and Mark Lloyd, who drawed the event to a close.

Keynotes

• Act for Eden (Julie Lawrence)
• A stronger catchment focus for water resources (Rory Callan)
• Floodplain Meadows – a Nature Based Solution for floodplain resilience (Emma Rothero)
• Priorisiting rivers (Liv Garfield)
• Technology for resilience (David Johnson)
• Building Resilience in Chalk Streams (Martin Bowes)
• Trees for Water (Alex Adam)
• Unlocking barriers to deliver greater value for the environment (Sarah Jenner)