Policy

The Floodplain Meadows Partnership policy work aims to support, encourage and seek:Members of the Steering group sitting at a table talking about policy priorities

  • The importance and natural capital value of floodplain meadows as a high nature value farming system; the ecosystem service benefits they provide and their role in ecological and climatic resilience;
  • Recognition for the role of floodplain grasslands as  a vital part of the UK wide nature recovery network, helping to reduce flooding and diffuse pollution, store carbon, conserve soils and support pollinating insects;
  • Support for self-sustaining farming practises in floodplains based on hay cut and grazing with minimal artificial inputs, building soils and fertility naturally and helping to reduce diffuse rural pollution;
  • The creation and re-connection of floodplain meadows on a landscape scale
  • Policies and schemes across all countries of the UK which support farmers and landowners in the restoration and creation of this habitat on a landscape scale for multiple benefits to society.
  • To increase people’s awareness of this value and combat the problem of shifting baselines  “normalising” the destruction of habitats and loss of species, where  people cannot appreciate what has been lost

Key areas of Policy focus for 2020

  • Agricultural policy including the Agricultural Bill and the development of the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.  
  • Catchment Management and Natural Flood Management 
  • Climate change mitigation and adaptation 
  • Environment Bill and Nature Recovery Network
  • Natural Capital debate 

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