The Fens were once England's largest wetland. Now less than 1% of the original wetland habitat remains. The Fens for the Future vision is to see sustainable wetlands restored, recreated and reconnected across the Fens for the benefit of people, the rural economy and our natural and historic heritage.

The Fens for the Future (FftF) partnership is a group of public, private, academic and voluntary sector organisations whose broad aim is to further the partnership approach to landscape scale conservation in the Fenland district and beyond. The partnership covers the fenland area of four counties; Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The project is promoting the benefits the natural environment can deliver and there are good examples of partners beginning to adopt an ecosystems approach.The restoration of wetland habitat will contribute to the Lincolnshire BAP target of extending fenland areas by 1000ha by 2020.

Large scale wet fenland creation has been a key issue since the 1990s and a number of ambitious habitat restoration projects such as The Great Fen Project, the Wicken Fen Vision and the Lakenheath RSPB reserve are in progress. In our area the South Lincolnshire Fens partnership is a key contributor to the overarching initiative.

The FftF approach is to:

• Lobby at a strategic level for recognition of the importance of fenland and the potential of the area
• Raise awareness of, promote and encourage environmentally friendly land management practices appropriate for fenland
• Establish a baseline and monitoring framework to record achievement towards a range of environmental, economic and social indicators
• Undertake projects that support and build capacity for the partner organisations and sites for the benefit of the area. This will include shared learning and research

The FftF Strategic Plan, launched in 2012, was intended to identify the top priorities for biodiversity action and to assist with subsequent funding bids across the inland fens. The Plan complements existing work and provides an overarching framework that translates policy into action on the ground. A Fenland Biodiversity Audit Report was also published in 2012.