Partnerships

To restore a climate resilient and more wildlife abundant landscape to Sussex, we need to work together, at scale with communities, government organisations, landowners and others. Sussex Wildlife Trust supports a number of pioneering and partnership projects at land and at sea. Our Wilder Landscape Team works on the following collaborations:

Partnerships that we host

Wilder Ouse

Since 2012, the Sussex Flow Initiative (SFI) has been innovating and helping to deliver Natural Flood Management (NFM) in the Ouse River catchment, bringing it to the fore as a means of naturally mitigating floods and flood risk in a lowland catchment setting. SFI has now transitioned to the Wilder Ouse project, a collaborative project between the Environment Agency, Lewes District Council, the Woodland Trust, and the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Wilder Ouse has expanded the objectives of SFI and is bringing together people in the Sussex Ouse catchment to create a robust Nature Recovery Network, with restored ecological connectivity, ecosystem function and climate resilience.

Wilder Horsham District

Wilder Horsham District is an innovative five-year partnership between Sussex Wildlife Trust and Horsham District Council working to deliver a Nature Recovery Network for Horsham District. Working closely with local communities and landowners, we aim to reverse the decline in species and habitats and enrich the natural environment for all residents and visitors.

External partnerships that we help deliver

Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs

Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs is an exciting partnership project between Action in Rural Sussex, Small Woods Association, Sussex Wildlife Trust & Woodland Trust with additional support from Environment Agency & Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust. By working with landowners and local communities, the Lost Woods project aims to bring back to life forgotten areas of woodland in Sussex.

Weald to Waves

Our Wilder Landscapes Team is playing a key role in engaging communities and landowners across the ambitious 100 mile long, 10,000 hectare nature recovery corridor across Sussex that is the focus of the Weald to Waves project. The Wilder Ouse project is also leading the addition of an Ouse Weald to Waves corridor.

Catchment Partnerships

Sussex Wildlife Trust works closely with all the Sussex Catchment Partnerships. We play key roles in the Cuckmere and Pevensey Partnership, and we play key roles in the Adur & Ouse Partnership, the Arun & Western Streams Partnership, and the Romney and Rother catchment partnerships. The catchment partnerships were brought together by the Government Facilitation Funds to try to get all our rivers into Good Ecological Status by 2027, tackling issues such as diffuse and direct pollution, water resources and enabling fish migration in line with the European Water Framework Directive.[AS2]