It is now well documented that recent decades have been warmer, wetter, and sunnier than in the 20th century - for example, six of the ten wettest years for the UK in a series from 1862 have occurred since 1998, and the most recent decade (2011-2020) has been on average 4% wetter than 1981-2010 and 9% wetter than 1961-1990 for the UK overall (see the 2020 UK State of the Climate report for more info).

The Wyre Natural Flood Management project is one of four pilot "nature-based investment" projects across England. Although NFM interventions are fairly new and more research is needed on their efficacy, there is some evidence showing that such activities reduce water levels (technically, reduce 'peak flows' in 1-in-20 to 1-in-50 year flood events) by c. 5-15%. NFM interventions are a collection of activities that are low-cost and which are not overly engineered or 'man-made', drawing mostly from natural resources where possible (e.g. logs/bushes). In this project, upfront investment finances a collection of NFM interventions in the Wyre catchment area, with 'ecosystem buyers' paying an outcomes-linked fee over a ten year period.