Rewilding Arcadia is a new initiative of the Thames Landscape Strategy that takes the ‘On the Edge’ scheme launched by Sir David Attenborough at our 25th anniversary to the next stage.
Jason Debney explains…..
‘Large tracts of the Arcadian Thames is characterised by high quality open space set within the statutory floodplain. By their very nature these places have the ability to be flooded although much of their wildness and dynamism has been lost through historic modifications that have seen the relationship between the river, its floodplain and people greatly reduced.
In 2010 Sir David Attenborough Patron of the Thames Landscape Strategy proposed a new way to restore the lost floodplain in order to explain the complex processes that underpin the Making Space for Water agenda. The TLS has been working with communities, planners, policy makers and practitioners since setting out ways to adapt to and become more resilient to climate change as the river landscape evolves. The first phase in the implementation of this strategic TLS goal (to restore the lost floodplain) was completed in 2017 at the Home Park Water Meadows at Hampton Court.
Re-wilding Arcadia is our next step to enable natural flood management in six strategic locations to increase community and business resilience and enhance the natural capital and associated ecosystem services along the Arcadian Thames’.
The following report sets out the background to the project and a brief introduction to its aims.