Cumbria will receive a share of £150m to test and develop new ways to respond to flooding.
The Environment Agency is implementing a whole host of projects across the country, from apps alerting residents to flooding to permeable road surfaces to improve drainage.
In Cumbria, the public body aims to test a range of solutions to improve resilience to flooding, including working with farmers and landowners to deliver natural flood management projects such as leaky dams, tree planting and flood storage to slow the flow and store floodwaters in a range of locations.
The 25 areas have been selected following an expressions of interest process managed by Defra and the Environment Agency and assessed by an independent expert panel.
Emma Howard Boyd, chairwoman of the Environment Agency said: “The innovation programme is extremely exciting as it begins to put new aspects of the national flood and coastal erosion risk strategy to the test. What we learn will inform our approach to the climate crisis in the coming decades and it’s something to tell our international partners about at COP26.
“I’m particularly interested in the projects that test the ability of nature-based projects to generate revenue. If successful, these could be scaled up by private finance around the world, helping to prepare for climate shocks, restore nature and create jobs.”
