Rising waters | Rooted solutions
Lessons from the Yorkshire Post Climate Change Summit
Experts from across the region explored how nature-based solutions (NbS) can help residents, landowners, and local businesses adapt to climate change while attracting investment.
Nature, trust and capital: lessons from the Climate Change Summit.
On 16 October, Ousewem led the session Nature, trust and capital: advancing flood resilience in Yorkshire at the Yorkshire Post Climate Change Summit 2025. The discussion explored how nature-based solutions (NbS) can help residents, landowners, and local businesses adapt to climate change while attracting investment.
The panel brought together experts from across the region:
- Victoria Murray, Ousewem: emphasised the importance of combining modelling, monitoring, and co-design with landowners to demonstrate natural flood management's (NFM) effectiveness and potential benefits.
- Luke Wellock, Aire Resilience Company (ARC): highlighted common challenges in valuation, metrics, and governance when seeking investment for NbS.
- George Richmond, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority: placed NbS within the wider context of regional strategy and net zero ambitions.
Panel insights
The discussion explored how to build long-term trust with landowners and businesses so that they invest in NbS, and what policies are needed to support this.
Victoria Murray, Ousewem project manager, said:
The work we’re doing across catchments shows how local partnerships and robust evidence can guide practical action and inform wider investment decisions.
Luke Wellock, Aire Resilience Company (ARC), said:
Across different projects, aligning environmental outcomes with finance frameworks is key. Sharing lessons from local initiatives helps everyone understand what works.
George Richmond, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, said:
Nature-based solutions are critical climate infrastructure. The opportunity is to connect local delivery with regional policy and investment to support long-term resilience.
City of York Council’s wider role in the Summit was also reflected in a separate panel featuring Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency, who underlined the importance of aligning city-led action with regional and national strategies.
Cllr Kent added:
Ousewem’s work in the Swale, Ure, Nidd, and Upper Ouse catchments demonstrates how natural flood management interventions can be scaled to attract finance and deliver multiple benefits. The Summit provided an opportunity to share lessons, foster dialogue, and explore practical ways to embed nature-based solutions in regional and national climate strategies.
Continuing the conversation
Ousewem’s session was one part of the wider Summit programme, contributing practical local examples to a regional and national debate. By connecting these conversations, the Summit provided a space to share learning, identify opportunities, and explore how nature-based solutions can be practical, scalable, and integrated into wider regional planning.
You can read more about Ousewem’s approach to monitoring NFM benefits in Measuring what matters: choosing the right indicators for NFM success.
Also see
