Understanding our rivers through connecting communities to waterways – Catchment Partnerships
We support healthy water environments for thriving wildlife and local communities through effective partnership and collaboration. Our rivers are currently suffering from a wide range of pressures; pollution, loss of habitat, climate change and physical modifications causing a loss of clean water, the ability to protect us against droughts and floods and impacts to natural habitats for wildlife and communities, across the Thames Basin.
Our rivers can be divided into catchments which follow the natural flow of our rivers. These are interconnected in the landscape and influence the communities around them. Something that happens upstream in the catchment, can affect the river downstream. Thames21’s work focuses on a holistic, collaborative approach to improving river health.
Catchment partnerships, guided by the national Catchment Based Approach initiative, focuses on viewing the river as a whole system and brings together relevant stakeholders to collaboratively identify and deliver river improvement projects at catchment-scale through Nature Based Solutions, such as natural flood management, constructed wetlands, fish & eel passes, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), invasive species control and citizen science.
Thames21 hosts or co-hosts a total of ten catchment partnerships, located from Essex, across north and south London to Berkshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. We also chair the River Partnerships in London (RiPL), which brings together all the catchment partnership hosts that operate within Greater London and provides a collective voice for London’s rivers. By bringing together a range of stakeholders, including eNGOS, local authorities, local community groups, statutory organisations, water companies and farmers we can collaboratively identify key issues, deliver nature-based solutions, whilst empowering local communities to champion and protect their local rivers.
Catchments Thames21 work in:
Thames21 are the sole catchment partnership hosts for the:
London Lea Catchment Partnership
Maidenhead to Teddington Catchment Partnership
Ravensbourne Catchment Partnership
Thames21 co-host the following catchment partnerships:
Marsh Dykes & Thamesmead Catchment Partnership – with London Wildlife Trust
Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne (RBI) Catchment Partnership – with Thames Chase Trust
South Essex Catchment Partnership – with Thames Chase Trust
Your Tidal Thames Catchment Partnership – with Thames Estuary Partnership
Cherwell and Ray Catchment Partnership – with Berks, Barks and Oxon Wildlife Trust
South Chilterns Catchment Partnership – with Action for the River Kennet and Chilterns Chalk Stream Project