Future Fens Integrated Adaptation - Fenland Landscape Engagement Investment Plan

The Fens are the most exposed area of the UK to climate change. Exhibiting vulnerabilities to sea level rise, drought, and flood risk, it is a landscape with a unique challenge.

As climate change causes sea level rise and increased variability in the frequency and magnitude of rainfall within the region, the potential impacts of flood risk and drought are growing. Simultaneously, climate change also proposes risk of biodiversity loss and health related consequences, meaning it is becoming increasingly important that adaptation strategies are implemented within the Fens. However, it is recognised that to achieve a sustainable region, these strategies must relate to multiple sectors, and not be instigated in silos.

To enable this change, the Future Fens: Integrated Adaptation (FF:IA) program is in operation. This is a partnership organisation that weaves in numerous sectors, including the water industry, to produce a better future for the landscape. This organisation is primarily led by Anglian Water, the Environment Agency, Water Resources East, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, but involves over 75 different stakeholders. These stakeholders are primarily groups but do include individual representatives too. Collectively, this large group of stakeholders is known as the Taskforce.

Overseeing the Taskforce and project team is the Sponsor Group, which is comprised of senior representatives from Anglian Water, the Environment Agency, Water Resources East, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Lincolnshire County Council, and Norfolk County Council. They have executive direction of the project.

Having been launched at COP26, FF: IA is now in Phase 2, where it is focused on strategic actions that can enable the necessary changes to be made. To support this, 3 key projects are in motion. The first of which is a Climate Change Risk Assessment focused on the Fenland to ensure that adaptation thinking is informed by the most appropriate information. The outputs of this assessment will be shared with the Taskforce in Autumn 2024 and submitted for journal publication thereafter. In conjunction with this, is the development of a Visualisation Tool which will map out the stakeholders and their activities within the region, so that everyone is aware of the actions of the Taskforce. This will minimise duplicated work, help to create efficiency, and drive forward collaborative working. Both these projects will serve to broaden what adaptation strategies are considered.

However, to mobilise these information hubs to create the most value, it is recognised that the ideas and aims of the stakeholders must be brought together and developed into an investable plan. To start this process, Stage1 of a 'Transition Lab' is currently underway. This is seeking to unify the Taskforce members to work towards a shared goal of an investable Fenland and build an understanding of the challenges and opportunities they are facing across the landscape. The outputs of this, expected in Autumn 2024, will include a multisector stakeholder base and shared set of objectives, which will be built upon in Stage 2. As and when the outputs of the Climate Change Risk Assessment, Visualisation Tool and Stage 1 of the Transition Lab are available, these will be shared with the successful Supplier.

The output of this tender will be aligned to the outputs of the Climate Change Risk Assessment and Visualization Tool. Through the collation of these three pieces of work, adaptation strategies that take the step beyond simply addressing climate risk will be understood, and meaningful sustainability focused progress facilitated.

As FF: IA operates in a partnership manner, the outputs of each project are shared with the strategic partnership alliance group of stakeholders. It is expected that any results or deliverables from this tender will be accessible to the group members in as fine detail as those provided to Anglian Water.