Posted on February 3, 2025
A £1.7m project to restore “precious” wetlands across the South Downs region and raise awareness about water is now under way.
Work on the “Downs to the Sea” initiative begins in time for World Wetlands Day – February 2 –, with a “bumper action plan” to restore and create a network of “blue spaces” in the landscape.
It comes after National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded a grant of £1.7m late last year.
Downs to the Sea will help carry out “much-needed” restoration work to a number of internationally-designated wildlife sites, such as RSPB Pulborough Brooks and RSPB Pagham Harbour in West Sussex.
South Downs National Park ranger Sophie Brown next to a restore dew pond near Arundel (Image: Jeff Travis SDNPA) The initiative will restore 15 ponds in the National Park to create biodiversity hotspots and support the movement of wildlife between sites, increasing resilience to a warmer and wetter climate.
A range of activities are also planned to connect people with waterways, including volunteering to help rivers and “social prescribing” to tap into waters’ benefits for health and wellbeing.
Wetlands are under increasing threat from climate change, water usage, pollution, flooding, drought, and fragmentation.
Some two thirds of all freshwater species are supported by ponds and yet the UK has lost half of all its ponds since 1900.
A map showing planned works (Image: SDNP) In the South Downs National Park, a survey of pond locations showed that almost 70 per cent are in poor condition, or have disappeared from the landscape, resulting in large swathes of downland where no surface water is available for wildlife.
In addition to boosting biodiversity, wetlands can be “amazing” carbon sinks and a natural solution to climate change. Storing around a third of the world’s carbon, they slow the flow of water, cleaning it naturally and reducing the risk of flooding downstream.
There are large swathes of downland where no surface water is available for wildlife (Image: Tim Squire) The initiative is a partnership between the South Downs National Park Authority, South Downs National Park Trust, RSPB, Brighton and Hove City Council, Western Sussex Rivers Trust, and Writing Our Legacy.
Siôn McGeever, chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “The South Downs region is full of incredible blue spaces – rivers, streams, ponds, coastline and a huge aquifer – but like so many parts of the UK, these water environments are under increasing threat.
“In many places wildlife is just surviving, rather than thriving as it should be.
“This project will help turn that around.”
