CIWEM Presidential Conference 2025: Taking a practical approach to climate change adaptation and resilience in the Midlands

27 June 2025

CIWEM President Hannah Burgess shares her reflections on the CIWEM Presidential Conference, which this year was held in Coventry

On 08 April 2025, we hosted our CIWEM Presidential Conference in Coventry, bringing together key stakeholders, environmental experts and local communities to share and inspire the practical actions needed to build resilience and adaptation to climate and environmental change in the Midlands.

Our conference provided a platform for real world examples with action on the ground, with a wide range of contributions from organisations including the Southwell Flood Forum, Lowdham Flood Action Group, Staffordshire County Council, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, Trent Rivers Trust and the Canal and Rivers Trust.

The overarching goal? To spark action, empowering individuals and organisations to take meaningful steps toward resilience, while encouraging others to do the same. The Ripple Effect is our presidential theme for the year and aims to create widespread change by fostering shared responsibility.

Key Discussions and Themes

During the conference, attendees participated in workshop discussions centred on three critical questions:

1. What examples exist of pragmatic climate resilience and adaptation?
2. What are the constraints affecting the delivery of these efforts?
3. How can we accelerate and scale implementation?

From these discussions emerged a range of themes reflecting the complexity and urgency of climate adaptation, namely:

• Flood Risk Policy: From strategic to site specific scale, delegates stressed the need for better data, ongoing monitoring and clear, actionable strategies that respond to future risk.
• Adaptive Pathways for Climate Change: Water management solutions must be flexible and responsive, able to evolve with our understanding of climate risk and change over time.
• Property Flood Resilience Measures: Practical interventions such as flood doors and waterproof flooring to enhance protection and recovery at a householder scale. These should be a key part of an overall strategic response.
• Collaborative and Partnership Working: Whether between councils, communities, or catchment partners, it was clear that strong partnerships underpin effective action. No one individual or organisation can do this alone.
• Using Existing Infrastructure for Water Management: Leveraging reservoirs and canals to provide water resources and/or flood risk benefits.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Funding Complexities: Local stakeholders and communities are critical to successful solutions, whilst funding can be challenging when there are projects competing for a limited budget.
• Community-Driven Climate Responses: Ensuring local engagement and transparent knowledge sharing, particularly between Risk Management Authorities.
• Technology and AI in Climate Adaptation: Harnessing remote sensing and data-driven strategies, for example improving asset management or optimising our wastewater networks.

These discussions were reinforced by case studies, showcasing large-scale local climate initiatives such as the Great North Bog, Manchester Consortium, Grand Union Water Transfer Project and the Trent Rivers Trust’s local river restoration projects.

The CIWEM Presidential team – Hannah Burgess and Peter Rook – at the Annual Presidential Conference

Driving Action and Inspiring Change

One of the most powerful outcomes of the conference was the collective commitment to do more at both individual and organisational levels. Not to just talk about resilience, but to actually deliver it and embed it into our ways of working.

Delegates left the conference with a renewed sense of purpose around the organisational and societal shifts needed to build resilience. Strengthening collaboration across sectors, fostering transparent partnerships, and working proactively with communities were central and recurring themes. Many highlighted the value of community engagement that moves beyond consultation, embedding local voices in planning and delivery. Equally important was the push to influence policy and regulation, not just to firefight, but to embed adaptation into the everyday decisions shaping places and infrastructure.

On the technical front, there was strong interest in how innovation can accelerate progress. Delegates discussed the potential of AI and machine learning to tackle complex environmental challenges, from predictive modelling to smarter asset management. There was also enthusiasm for improving data-sharing practices, guidance around flood response plans and creating more engaging, educational tools. These insights reflect a broader shift: towards adaptive, technology-enabled approaches that support sustainable delivery and empower professionals to lead change from the ground up.

The CIWEM Presidential Conference showed that while the challenges we face are complex, the solutions are already in motion, shaped by the people in the room, the partnerships we build, and the actions we choose to take. By sharing our expertise and taking collective action as professionals in the water and environmental sector, we can scale up and adapt at pace in tackling climate and environmental challenges across the Midlands and beyond.

The Ripple Effect starts small — how far will yours reach?

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Further reading:

• Get the latest news from the CIWEM Presidential team
• Find your local CIWEM Branch
• Early Bird Tickets to UDG Conference 2025