WRAP and Nature Recovery Project have joined forces to address one of the most pressing issues facing the planet – water security. Nature Recovery Project cemented the new partnership with a £1.14 million investment to support and accelerate essential work already underway in the UK, South Africa, Kenya, Spain and Peru through the Water Roadmap – managed by WRAP under the UK Food and Drink Pact.

The funding will provide long-term support over the next four years to a number of existing collective action projects operating through WRAP’s Water Roadmap in areas that provide large amounts of the UK’s fresh food. These include key agricultural regions in Africa, Peru, Spain and the UK itself. The projects bring water stewardship into supply chains and deliver nature-based solutions to improve water quality and availability, and support biodiversity, soil health and carbon storage through a range of local innovative regenerative agriculture projects. A grant fund will be established offering the opportunity for the projects to apply for additional funding to support their work.

The funding will also help expand WRAP’s Water Roadmap work into additional food producing regions that suffer similar issues within their water catchments, increasing the scope and impact of the Water Roadmap, and injecting crucial funding on the ground.

James Berry, Head of Strategy Nature Recovery Project said, “Water security is the foundation of sustainable agriculture and ecosystem health. As part of our mission to restore nature and regenerate landscapes, TNRP is proud to support WRAP’s Water Roadmap an initiative that directly addresses critical water challenges. WRAP’s international network, including UK Food and Drink Pact, unites nearly 200 organizations dedicated to sustainability in food production. This partnership will serve as an exemplar for these organizations, demonstrating how collaborative action can be replicated in other regions to accelerate thriving ecosystems and resilient water resources.”

Harriet Lamb, CEO WRAP said, “This vitally needed injection of funding will enable the projects to deepen their impact through more nature-based solutions from planting native trees to using natural groundcover to retain water. Over 80% of the fruit we enjoy comes from outside the UK, often from drought-prone areas, while last year, no single river in England or Northern Ireland was classified as being in ‘good health’. This is a perfect storm, and we must improve and protect these crucial water catchments through collective action, here and overseas. We are very grateful to the Nature Recovery Project for their invaluable support.”

One new project to benefit from the partnership looks to protect the world-famous chalk steams in the Great Ouse catchment and the habitats it supports. The Great Ouse catchment habitats have been heavily modified over recent years and are experiencing over abstraction and pollution from water companies. With large quantities of nitrates, phosphates, oil run off and slurry leaking into the waterways from intensive farming. Building on an existing project in Norfolk, the aim is to expand interventions upstream to Bedford, covering almost sea-to-source of the 5th longest river in the UK. The project will help return the River Ouse to a good ecological status and provide a case study of how collective action can take place in a high land value, high output landscape.

East Anglia contributes nearly a third of the UK’s total crop production, including almost half of the country’s homegrown vegetables. The Ouse is home to seven globally important Ramsar wetlands, 14 European Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation, and 241 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

In the UK, an estimated 47% of vegetables and 84% of fruit is imported from overseas, often from water scarce and drought-prone regions, while global agriculture accounts for 70% of all water use. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that by 2030, global demand for water will double while the United Nations predicts an overall 40% water shortfall. The Environment Agency warns that the UK faces serious water shortages if no action is taken.

As extreme weather events increasingly threaten water and the security of food supply chains, climate smart nature-based solutions have the power to help make the world a safer and healthier place. Enabling these solutions at scale helps to improve water management in high-risk areas, increase biodiversity and drive a more sustainable food system – as well as mitigating against climate change.

Over 100 organisations and businesses already work under WRAP’s Water Roadmap to address issues linked to agriculture that are directly impacting on water catchments in key food producing areas. Members work collaboratively to improve local water catchments and ensure that, by 2030, 50% of the UK’s fresh food and drink will be sourced from areas with sustainable water management.

The Water Roadmap delivers against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all), as well as England’s 25-year Environment Plan, Scotland’s Environment Strategy, the Welsh Water Strategy and the Glasgow Declaration for Fair Water Footprints. The partnership with Nature Recovery Project will expand work right across the Water Roadmap programme, but WRAP warns that the current scale of global action on water is inadequate.