Wetlands to be recreated in England

Farmland in England is to be flooded to recreate wetlands under Government plans to boost wildlife and tackle climate change.

By Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentPublished: 7:00AM GMT 03 Feb 2010
Government watchdogs the Environment Agency will be building ditches, planting reeds and flooding fields between Huntingdon and Peterborough in a project to return 20 square miles to ancient fenland.
It is part of a controversial nationwide project to increase the amount of wetlands in Britain.

Lord Smith of Finsbury, the Chairman of the Environment Agency, said wetlands not only act as carbon sinks but provide a home to rare birds like the bittern.
"We need to greatly increase the amount of wetland that we have because it is incredibly important for our biodiversity and for ensuring that we maintain some of the very valuable species and plants that we have," he said.
England used to be covered in wetland but most of it was drained for agricultural land. There is now just 350,000 hectares left, just 10 per cent of what existed 500 years ago.
Wetlands provide habitat for rare birds like avocet as well as thousands of species of insects and plants. Boggy land also stores carbon dioxide, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere and causing global warming.
The Great Fen project, run by the EA in partnership with the National Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and other conservation groups, will see farmland and scrub transformed into a huge nature reserve over the next 100 years.
Visiting Wicken Fen for World Wetlands Day, Lord Smith, insisted only poor farmland will be flooded.
“Across England we’ve inherited only a few small and fragmented areas of wetland, often under pressure from pollution and development. Our remaining wetlands and their wildlife are deteriorating just as we are beginning to understand how vital they are in helping people and wildlife adapt to an increasingly uncertain future," he said.
“Through partnership projects such as Great Fen and Wicken Fen, working hand in hand with agriculture, conservation organisations and local communities, the Environment Agency is playing its part in managing the effects of climate change and increasing the chances of survival for some of our most threatened wildlife.”
Allan Buckwell, policy director of the Country Land and Business Association, pointed out that a lot of the best agricultural land in England is low lying.
"Given the global situation any Government should think very carefully before flooding," he said.