'Tree planting should not occur on peat soils and floodplains would be better used for restoring floodplain meadows rather than afforestation projects’. from Environmental Audit Committee report 'Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust?'

There is a growing recognition of the contribution species-rich habitats, such as floodplain meadows, can make to both the climate and biodiversity crises. Restoring these meadows aligns with natural capital policies such as the Environment Agency’s "Working with Natural Processes" framework, which acknowledges the potential of such restoration efforts as effective nature-based solutions to climate extremes. However, despite their enormous potential, floodplain meadows remain underutilised. 

Using case studies, data and evidence we have contributed to key reports, parliamentary working groups and relevant policy processes.  We have highlighted the role of meadows as one of the most efficient and sustainable land uses delivering multiple benefits, if restored at scale. 

Ecological restoration through land use planning such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS), Flood Risk Management Strategies and Catchment Plans, are critical for floodplain landscape recovery. These will help guide agreements between local stakeholders regarding the aspirations for floodplain restoration. We are feeding into these where we can.

Floodplains should be recognised as a distinct land type with priority areas mapped for restoration. This should also reflect the wider environmental benefits that come from restoring natural processes and biodiverse environments.
 

Current funding mechanisms and policies do not specifically recognise floodplain land as a distinct and special area. Floodplains are hydrologically complex and vulnerable and play a significant role in water management, water quality and climate change mitigation. Floodplains should be treated as a distinct entity in all land-related policies, with their contributions recognised and promoted. 

Agricultural funding is one of the principal means of supporting management and restoration of floodplain meadows. We have worked with Defra and others to develop the floodplain meadow option for the Countryside Stewardship Plus scheme (CS+) in England with an area payment of £1,070/ha.

We are engaged in similar work with the Welsh Government calling for a similar approach using evidence-led expertise.  The FMP also advised on payment rates, capital costs, skills, and targets.  We are using our restoration research to provide evidence-based advice to farmers and other landowners to build confidence and skills in appropriate restoration activity.   

Productive, rich low-lying floodplains are a key area for agriculture in the UK and have always been valued for their role in food production. 

There is a growing debate about how Britain should produce its food and what that means for the state of the countryside, Net Zero, environmental targets, landscape character and the health of both people and livestock. Farmers and consumers are becoming much more aware and supportive of an approach to food production which can provide space for nature.  Floodplain meadows can be used to provide fodder in the form of hay for livestock, with no chemical inputs, yet they recover well after floods, and remain productive during droughts. Traditional slow growing livestock that are 100% pasture-fed do not require imported feed with its associated carbon cost. They therefore have better nutrition and produce healthier meat for human consumption.

We are developing evidence and case studies to give confidence to farmers, Defra and the business sector that floodplain meadows are a productive and economic choice for how land can be used for agriculture, whilst also delivering other benefits. We are doing this by building links with farmer organisations, clusters, and advisory bodies to capture case studies for where farmers are working in a way that is economically viable. Many farmers are making meadows productive for them and we are sharing their stories. 

Species-rich grasslands are now amongst Great Britain’s rarest habitats. Floodplain meadows were once the most common use of land on lowland river floodplains but are now reduced to a tiny area, and what is lost is not just the habitat but also the resilient landscape they sit within. 

Grasslands as a whole cover more than 40% of England. They are a huge natural asset, and have potential to do so much more. However, unlike peatland and woodland, there is no action plan or strategic approach. A joined-up approach to habitats (e.g. England Trees Action Plan and England Peat Action Plan) can deliver largescale economic and social benefit. The contribution to ecosystem services by species rich floodplain meadows is undermined by a gap in the understanding and recognition of this habitat within land use management decision making, policies, strategies and funding. There is a lack of recognition of the role grasslands can play in enabling floodplains to be resilient and responsive to climate change. 

We are partnering up with Plantlife and a coalition of other organisations such as the National Trust, NFFN, Wildlife Trusts and Buglife in a public call for greater recognition and support of species-rich grasslands through better focused public policy and funding. We want to see the UK Government take a strategic approach for grasslands and commit to developing a Grassland Action Plan for England.  

Plantlife are now co-ordinating an advocacy push for Government to make the most of this immensely precious and threatened habitat for nature, climate & people.  Actions include briefings sent to Defra Ministers and their Shadow counterparts alongside publishing technical reports and other work to highlight the current status of grassland in this country.  As part of our advocacy work to promote and support floodplain meadows, the FMP will be working within this coalition. 

We are also working in Wales and Scotland to highlight the important role that species rich floodplain meadows play in sustainable landscapes and related policies.

Three to five times more carbon is stored in soils than in vegetation such as trees. The deep rooting strategies of meadow plants enhance the ability of floodplain soils to sequester and securely store significant quantities of carbon throughout the soil profile. Organic carbon within the top 10 cm of soil at North Meadow in Wiltshire was recorded as 109 tC·ha⁻¹ and within the top 50 cm, as over 200 t/ha), a much higher value than reported for neutral grasslands. Recently published research showed that higher species richness increases the sequestration rate in grasslands.

The ability of floodplain meadows to trap sediments and export nutrients such as phosphorus through the annual hay cut is vitally important to the restoration of good ecological status to rivers. Hay meadows are a nutrient pump removing phosphorus from river systems. This is potentially a tool that can be used as part of the Government’s Nutrient Neutrality agenda, and in restoring natural processes to protect sensitive catchments from increasing nutrient loads. A single hectare of meadow can export 5 kg of elemental phosphorus from a river system every year through the hay crop, highlighting their potential as a nature-based solution to eutrophication. 

We are keen to explore the opportunity for carbon and nutrient offsets to provide funding for floodplain meadows. 

We would like the Climate Change Committee to consider the maintenance and restoration of floodplain meadows as a carbon offset activity. There is already strong evidence of the carbon benefits of grasslands - in the UK and internationally. Nevertheless, more research is needed, and some is already underway. 

However, offsetting schemes, especially tree planting, currently pose a major threat to these precious habitats, partly due to a lack of understanding and awareness of the carbon and biodiversity benefits of grasslands. They are sometimes inadvertently destroyed or damaged by well-meaning woodland creation projects in inappropriate places.   

A second, related risk is that areas of grassland most suitable for restoration into species-rich grassland are instead identified as sites suitable for tree planting, often because they are seen as unproductive agricultural land. 

We are engaged in a number of projects that include collecting data in order to build a convincing and rigorous evidence base demonstrating the role floodplain meadows can play in carbon stewardship and nutrient related schemes.