Professor Christian Dunn, Head of the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences at ֲý, made the call in The Daily Telegraph, arguing that wetland habitats should be protected from development because of their important role in storing water and reducing flood risk.
Professor Dunn explained that wetlands can be classed as Nature-based Solutions as they use natural processes to tackle societal challenges such as flooding, drought and water pollution, while also providing benefits for biodiversity, carbon storage and human wellbeing.
He said: “If a patch of land is identified as a wetland - so you’d need a pair of wellies to cross it - our first response shouldn’t be to drain it, fill it in and build on it. It should be to maximise the protection it is given.”
More than 75 per cent of the UK’s original wetland area has been lost since 1700. Wetlands can act as natural sponges, slowing storm flows and holding excess water in the landscape for longer, while also helping habitats remain wetter during dry periods.
Professor Dunn argues that wetlands should be regarded as part of Britain’s critical national infrastructure, alongside conventional flood defences.
He added: “Building houses while simultaneously destroying the natural infrastructure that helps protect those houses from flooding would be spectacularly short-sighted.”
The call comes following a summer of drought and exceptionally low rainfall across much of the UK. Professor Dunn argues that the same landscape can be vulnerable to both drought and flooding, particularly where the natural systems that once stored and slowed water have been lost.
He is calling for wetland restoration and creation to be given the same strategic priority as other areas of national resilience, with Nature-based Solutions used alongside conventional engineering to help the UK adapt to increasingly extreme weather.
“Dismantling Britain’s wetlands was considered an engineering triumph of the past,” Professor Dunn said. “Restoring them is now a matter of national security.”
Read more on Professor Dunn’s idea for a ‘welly belt’:
Professor Dunn’s column in The Daily Telegraph on the importance of wetlands:
If you would like to learn more about the importance of wetlands and Nature-based Solutions the take a look at some of the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences: /sens
