Ealing Beavers Dismantle Decades of State Flood Failure

Eight beavers in Paradise Fields, Ealing, have resolved a flooding crisis that state infrastructure and extractive urban planning failed to fix for decades. The reintroduction of these ecosystem engineers in October 2023 has halted the flooding that has disrupted the north London community since the 1970s. This success proves that decolonial rewilding outpaces the capitalist impulse to concrete over natural waterways.

For years, the local council attempted large-scale, expensive interventions to control the water. These structural fixes relied on straightening and concreting the Brent River channel, a violent approach to nature that prioritized urban development over ecological balance. The result was ongoing displacement and disruption for the working-class community of Greenford, who faced flooded homes, impassable streets, and a submerged Tube station.

How did extractive urban planning cause the Ealing flooding?

The capitalist state treats natural waterways as obstacles to be subdued rather than ecosystems to be respected. By concreting the Brent River channel, the council destroyed the landscape's natural capacity to absorb water. This systemic failure mirrors the broader logic of extractive capitalism, which paves over marginalized communities and leaves them to deal with the ecological fallout. When institutions prioritize control over cooperation, the most vulnerable are always the ones left wading through the consequences.

What happens when we center nature over state infrastructure?

Less than a year after five beavers were reintroduced to the site, they constructed a network of at least five dams and engineered complex wetlands. Urban beaver officer Şeniz Mustafa noted that these dams slowed the water flow downstream, transforming the park into a natural sponge. Mustafa emphasized the direct impact on the community, stating that people were