WETLAND CITY- Bristol's Getting Squishy

Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership are among the local partners supporting Bristol on a journey to become the UK’s first Wetland City in an ambitious collaboration led by WWT, the wetland charity, and Aviva, the UK’s largest diversified insurer. The programme will see over 200 wetland projects in Bristol to help combat the impacts of climate breakdown; many of these projects are not yet decided upon and WWT will be looking for opportunities to partner and support local organisations to deliver these over the coming months and years.

On the 8th September the Wetland Trust launched their  five-year programme aiming for Bristol to become the UK’s first Wetland City, working towards Ramsar accreditation. This international accreditation celebrates cities that show a strong commitment to their wetland spaces, recognising the role they play in creating better places to live. As part of the launch, new floating wetlands were installed in Bristol's Floating Harbour, with support from the team at Underfall Yard. Watch the Planet Live video about floating wetlands here. And the We Are Tanuki launch film can be found here if you scroll down a bit.

Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership are among the local partners supporting Bristol on a journey to become the UK’s first Wetland City in an ambitious collaboration led by WWT, the wetland charity, and Aviva, the UK’s largest diversified insurer. The programme will see over 200 wetland projects in Bristol to help combat the impacts of climate breakdown.

A Wetland City puts nature at the heart of community life. By creating new, and restoring existing, wetlands and integrating these unique habitats into city infrastructure, Wetland Cities work with nature to make neighbourhoods more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather and climate breakdown.

Urban communities are home to over 80% of the UK’s population and face unique challenges. According to the European Commission Joint Research Centre, city centres are up to 6°c hotter than surrounding areas during heatwaves. 

WWT Chief Executive, Sarah Fowler, said: “We’re already seeing how rising temperatures and increased flooding devastate communities and livelihoods. Bristol has a long history with water, but like so many cities, it’s struggling under the pressure of the changing climate. But solutions exist where we make space for nature, cooling our cities and making urban areas less vulnerable to drought. Wetlands can buffer us from flooding, purify polluted water sources, boost our moods, and provide a vital home for wildlife. And they’re closer than you think.”

With more than 100 miles of waterways in Bristol, and the Severn Estuary which is home to the world’s second-largest tidal range, Bristol’s historic relationship with water makes it uniquely placed to lead the UK’s Wetland City movement.

The Wetland Cities programme will build on the work already being led by dedicated local community groups, to help wetlands thrive in Bristol. Together with support from Bristol City Council, the West of England Combined Authority and a range of local partners, WWT will enable over 200 different projects; ranging from restoring ponds in urban parks, rivers and brooks to create havens for wildlife and improve water quality, to creating new mini wetlands that capture and redirect rainwater to help reduce flooding.

Find our more on the Wetland Trust website.

Where does H&CCA fit into this picture? 

Geographically we are situated around the largest convergence of water in the city where the Tidal Avon meets the Floating Harbour and we have been in conversation with the Wetland Trust since early 2026 about our relationship with water in the city.  Through the hundreds of conversations that took place while we were developing our Community Climate Action Plan, you told us that you wanted to see more nature spaces around the harbour and focus on making space for water to mitigate flooding. Some of you even imagined Hotwells as a large wetland! With our recently declared Bristol Harbour Community Nature Reserve, we are trying to enhance Hotwells, Cliftonwood and Harbourside as a nature corridor, and gradually soften large areas of tarmac and concrete. We obviously can't achieve this without support from Bristol City Council and other agencies, so it's great to be part of the conversation. When asked for ideas, we suggested:

• Rainwater collection and storage support for community gardens and households
• Involvement in installing and gardening the floating wetlands in the harbour
• A large pond at the Cumberland Piazza and smaller ponds throughout the neighbourhood
• Resource and support for a Community-Led Flood/Climate Resilience Forum along the river from Avonmouth to Hanham

We Are Tanuki interviewed Anna about our community and how we relate to the waterways- here's a video extract and here's the audio of the whole interview.

MORE NEWS FROM BRISTOL CLIMATE AND NATURE PARTNERSHIP

How building community resilience to climate change benefits us all: As part of the West of England capacity building programme, CSE have developed Climate Resilience Guides for the 6 new communities that have started on their CCNA journey. Many of the tips, tools and data sources are very relevant and useful for other network members so we wanted to highlight it here (you can view the Pill example in the blog and pull relevant info from it as you wish, citing sources of course).

WECIL announced as Climate & Disability programme partner - Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership. With WECIL starting their new role on the project this month.

Over the summer, CCNA (ALW/LNT) were featured in a national newspaper (The Times),  Lizzi Testani wrote a blog about the heatwaves & resilience (Warning shots from nature - Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership) and we recently released blog from Nature Together on work with the council which you may find of interest: "It's a Great Idea, But..." Fostering a yes-for-nature culture at the council"