A major new report has highlighted how the UK’s historic canal network — the nation’s longest and most connected corridor of freshwater habitat — is one of Britain’s most important yet under-recognised assets for nature recovery, public wellbeing and community connection.
The Vital Connector for Nature and People report, published by the Canal & River Trust and supported by environmental leaders including Dr Tony Juniper CBE, chair of Natural England, shows how canals can play a unique role in tackling three converging national challenges: biodiversity loss, declining connection with nature, and widening health and wellbeing inequalities.
Built more than 250 years ago to support Britain’s industrial revolution, canals now represent a new form of living heritage. The trust’s 2,000-mile network of waterways, banks, towpaths and hedgerows forms a continuous ecological system running through cities, towns and countryside, reconnecting habitats that would otherwise remain fragmented.
Originally engineered as transport routes during the 18th and 19th centuries, canals today support a remarkable range of wildlife, including bats, kingfishers, otters, aquatic plants, pollinating insects and rare invertebrates. As linear corridors, canals allow species to move across urban and rural landscapes, a role that is particularly important in post-industrial and intensively farmed regions of central England where natural habitats have been heavily reduced.
The report explains that canals now function as one of the UK’s most effective wildlife corridors, linking landscapes in ways that other green spaces cannot. By running directly through urban areas, canals bring nature into daily life, allowing people to experience wildlife close to where they live and work.
Canals are also increasingly important for people’s health and wellbeing. Research shows that access to green and blue spaces is a key determinant of physical and mental health, yet access remains unequal, particularly in urban and minority communities. Many of these communities have limited access to traditional green spaces and experience poorer health outcomes.
Canals help address this inequality. Nearly nine million people live within a 15-minute walk of a canal, often in areas with limited green space and higher levels of deprivation. The Canal & River Trust’s Canals on Prescription and Community Roots programmes are already demonstrating how canal environments can deliver measurable improvements in mental health and wellbeing through nature-based activities and community engagement.
However, the report also makes clear that these benefits are not guaranteed. As ageing, human-made structures, canals require constant care, maintenance and investment to remain safe, accessible and ecologically rich. The trust relies on sustained funding, partnerships and the support of thousands of volunteers to keep the network alive and functioning.
The Canal & River Trust is now calling on funders, partners and the public to help maximise the potential of canals for nature and people. Opportunities include restoring habitats and species, improving water quality and connectivity through fish and eel passes, expanding citizen science initiatives, and widening access to nature-based health and wellbeing programmes.
Without continued investment and public support, the report warns that the ecological, social and health benefits delivered by the canal network could be lost. With the right backing, however, canals could become one of the UK’s most powerful tools for nature recovery and preventative health, reconnecting millions of people with the natural world on their doorstep.
