A new report commissioned by RSA Insurance, an Intact company, and The Wildlife Trusts shows that every £1 invested in natural flood management (NFM) is expected to deliver £10 of benefits over 30 years.

The report, Assessing the multiple benefits of Natural Flood Management, was released after it transpired that insurers paid out £585M in the UK for weather-related damage in 2024. The new research looked at ten natural flood management schemes created by individual Wildlife Trusts, and found they collectively had an average total cost-benefit ratio of 4:1 over ten years, rising to 10:1 over 30 years.

Photo description: A close-up shot of a beaver’s face. Photo by Matej Bizjak / Pexels

Natural flood management includes investing in beaver wetlands, creating ponds, restoring bogs, rewilding rivers and de-paving so that larger areas can absorb water and hold it back in times of extreme rainfall.

Additionally, a survey of surrounding communities found that more than 85% of respondents who had access to their local scheme felt it encouraged physical health and exercise, while 92% felt they were good spaces for positive mental wellbeing and provided opportunities to see nature.