Kew Reach Solutions Summit 2026
On 15th October, Kew Reach welcomed associates, clients, scientists, partners, and leading voices in restoration to the inaugural Solutions Summit.
No single sector or institution can direct the future of nature recovery, which is why the Kew Reach Solutions Summit 2026 brought together the scientists, financiers, developers, farmers, and consultants working at the frontline of restoration. Over the course of the day, discussion ranged from the fungal networks that support the growth of individual trees to the financing mechanisms needed to drive change at scale. Alongside the need for collaboration, a second theme recurred throughout the day: culture. Whether in the attitudes that shape how farmers, politicians, and the public engage with the land, or in the wider public disconnect from thriving nature, speakers agreed that lasting recovery depends as much on shifting minds as it does on funding or science. A related pattern emerged across the panels, namely we must all invest early moving forward, when prevention is easier, cheaper, and more effective than waiting until the damage is done and is harder to address.
Farming
Farming was among the most persistent themes of the day, surfacing in the discussions on biodiversity and nature finance before it was addressed directly in its own panel. The efficiency of current land use was called into question with the suggestion that some less efficient farmland could be converted to better serve nature. Experience of the transition to regenerative practice varied widely, from farms already seeing the full benefit of nature-friendly methods to smaller operations for which subsidy alone does not provide a reliable income, and where day-to-day survival leaves little room to take the same leap. Whether the issue was framed as one of policy, finance, or culture, the conclusion was consistent: lasting change depends on farmers, government, and markets meeting on common ground. With the right data and analysis to understand where food really comes from, and where the marginally productive land is, we can target interventions that give meaningful, valuable livelihoods to the people who farm it today, while supporting nature on a payment-for-outcomes basis.
(Panel: ‘Rebuilding nature in a future UK agricultural landscape’ with Ben Goldsmith, Derek Gow, Donna Lyndsay, Ed Horton, and Craig Livingstone, Chaired by Mike Chadwick)
Nature Finance
Speakers made clear throughout the day that good ideas alone are not enough, and that nature recovery will only attract the funding it needs when government, business, and philanthropy speak with one voice. UNEP research sets out the scale of the gap: against a global need of $571bn a year to fund nature restoration by 2030, only $220bn is currently flowing, less than half of what is required, and with public money accounting for 90% of that. Across the globe they estimate that for every $1 being invested in nature, $30 is spent on activities that destroy it. Closer to home the picture is similar, with UK research presented at the summit showing that of the £1.15bn flowing into nature in the UK, the vast majority comes from the public purse, followed by philanthropy, with private capital in nature markets still a small, if growing, fraction of the total.
Carbon finance was repeatedly named as part of the solution, though not a complete one. Of all the money moving through global carbon markets, only $1.3 billion reaches nature restoration directly, which suggests that too much has been expected of carbon credits to deliver outcomes, biodiversity recovery chief among them, that they were never designed to fund alone. The consistent message from these conversations was the need for a shared narrative across sectors, together with a recognition that public money should fund public goods. Without that shared voice, and far greater clarity over where capital and operational spending go, neither government nor private investors can act with the confidence that nature recovery requires.
(Panels: ‘Who pays for nature?’ with Julia Baker, Gabriella Zepf, Stephanie Hime, and Alice Stuart, Chaired by Mark Chadwick; ‘How do we align carbon investments with global restoration goals?’ with Rachael Nutter, Olivier Behra, and Alice Stuart, Chaired by Nick de Lisle)
Urban Nature
Nature in cities was presented as essential infrastructure rather than decoration. Speakers observed that in the UK, urban tree planting is still treated as something desirable where it can be accommodated, rather than as a necessity. Figures from HM Treasury’s Green Book demonstrate how misguided this is, with access to nature contributing meaningfully to ‘wellbeing adjusted life years’, which deliver £13,000 of economic value for each gained. Edinburgh’s city centre transformation was discussed as evidence this, having delivered measurable economic and wellbeing benefits over a decade of sustained investment in urban nature, while examples further afield, from a proposed urban forest in Baghdad to New York’s High Line, were built around the same principles of diversity, connectivity, and functionality. The panel was clear about the scale of the challenge, noting that rising urban heat has already been linked to thousands of excess deaths in a single summer, and that city sewer systems are projected to reach capacity within decades without natural infrastructure, such as tree canopy, to provide shade and slow rainfall. Canopy and greenspace deficits were also shown to map closely onto the UK’s most disadvantaged communities, a reminder that investment in urban nature is as much a question of fairness as of economics. Delivering at the necessary scale, it was agreed, depends on public-private partnership and, critically, on political continuity, since the ecological benefits of trees and green space take decades to mature and cannot be sustained if they are treated as short-term projects.
(Panels: ‘Bringing nature into the urban landscape’ with Kenneth Allan, Mike Perkins, and Carlo Castelli, Chaired by Vjera Magdalenic-Moussavi ; ‘Resilient urban trees’ with Kevin Martin, chaired by Mark Chadwick)
Restoration Science
One of the most instructive lessons of the day on restoration science came from below ground. Speakers described how newly planted trees often die within five years, not because of poor planting but because the soil lacks the right fungal partners, the mycorrhizal networks on which most plants depend to exchange nutrients and water. The solutions discussed ranged from transplanting soil from healthy habitats to applying commercial fungal inoculants, although speakers were candid about the limits of both, noting that laboratory-grown products can arrive non-viable and can never fully recreate the diversity of a wild soil community. Simpler interventions were also explored, including deliberately wounding young trees to mimic the decay and cavities that ancient trees provide naturally, giving fungi and the species that depend on them somewhere to establish while slower, long-term recovery takes hold. The same emphasis on practical innovation was evident in the day’s showcase, where attendees saw emerging restoration technology in action, from drone-based monitoring to new scanning tools capable of tracking ecological change on the ground in real time. Taken together, these sessions suggested that much of the science and technology needed to restore nature well already exists, and that the challenge now lies in applying it widely rather than only where resources allow.
(Panel: ‘Restoration of ecosystems with fungi’ with Catia Canteiro and David Satori, chaired by Charlie Roper)
(Innovation showcase: University of Plymouth, Arboris, Greehill, and Chirrup.ai)
Kew Reach would like to thank everyone who attended and contributed to the summit, and we look forward to continuing these conversations at subsequent events!
Sources: UNEP, State of Finance for Nature 2026; UNEP, State of Finance for Forests; Ecosystem Marketplace, State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2025; Stuart and zu Ermgassen (2026), Ambio)
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