UK Canals Key to Climate Resilience and Biodiversity, Say Campaigners

Protecting the UK’s canal network is essential for enhancing resilience to climate change, according to a report by the Canal & River Trust. The charity highlighted canals’ critical role in supporting biodiversity, decarbonisation, and climate adaptation.

The trust’s network forms the UK’s longest corridor of freshwater habitats, providing vital urban homes for species like kingfishers, herons, and the endangered water vole. Acting as “nature highways,” canals allow wildlife to thrive and move safely between urban and rural areas.

Richard Parry, the trust’s chief executive, emphasised canals’ potential to mitigate extreme weather impacts. During heavy rainfall, canals can act as drainage routes, protecting nearby buildings from flooding.

“They’re such an integral part of so many of our towns and cities, having been built more than 200 years ago, their whole purpose changing so dramatically over time,” Parry said. “They are now this very highly valued local space for people to get close to nature, as well as water security and flood mitigation.”

In summer droughts, they provide water security, supplying drinking water to over 5 million people annually. This includes transferring water to Cheshire via the Llangollen canal and to Bristol through the Gloucester and Sharpness canal.

Canals also help cool urban areas. During the 2022 heatwaves, the trust found that urban canals reduced surrounding temperatures by an average of 2°C in Manchester, Birmingham, and London.

Formerly used for coal transport, canals are evolving into renewable energy sources. A district heating network in Liverpool, set to launch in 2025, will use water from the Leeds and Liverpool canal to heat over 9,000 homes and 4 million square feet of commercial space.

However, climate challenges threaten these historic waterways, many over 200 years old. Last week, heavy rainfall breached Cheshire’s 18th-century Bridgewater canal, while eight storms in 2023 caused £9 million in damages.

“They’re miracles of their day, the engineering skill with which they were built,” said Parry. However, the original materials used – clay, stoneware and concrete – are prone to rapid erosion during extreme weather events and frequently need maintenance. “We’ve got to make them more resilient,” Parry said.

“Having got through the last 250 years, canals are adding benefit to our lives in ways that we would never have anticipated before. It’s so vital that we are able to sustain that for future generations.”

Protecting and modernising the canal network is crucial to its continued role in combating climate change and supporting biodiversity.