Tamed by centuries of human modification and poisoned by pollution, Britain’s rivers, lakes and streams are in critical condition. In the 16th article in BW’s Wilding for Conservation series, Carl Sayer, Oliver van Biervliet, Reagan Pearce and Theodore Mills ask whether rewilding could offer hope for these degraded freshwater ecosystems.
Britain’s lowland rivers, lakes, ponds and other freshwater sites are troubled waters. For many years anglers, conservationists and scientists have been raising the alarm to government with little response, but suddenly, owing to a combination of increasingly concerning statistics and high-profile campaigns, freshwaters are on the election agenda.