Until 1848, the Regge river was a meandering river. Starting in the 19^th century, the first bends were cut and over the years the Regge was largely turned into a canal. Under flooding conditions, large areas in the valley of the Regge river were flooded and in some places the floods were a mile wide. In severe drought situations, however, the river was no more than a coherent set of stationary eddies. Before the renaturalisation, the main stream regularly cut off meanders, which were still recognizable in the landscape. The river formed a landscape that provided an insufficient basis for a scenic and ecologically well-functioning Regge basin.

The Water Board Regge and Dinkel (successively merged into the Water Board Vechtstromen) was committed, together with the province of Overijssel, relevant municipalities, landowners and various interest groups, to gradually change this situation and transform about 50 km of the highly artificialized waterway into a natural river. The ‘climate buffer’ Regge was planned to provide more space to store the water in periods of flooding by re-meandering. Moreover, this transformation was intended to increase the sponge effect of the soil, preserving more water for dry periods. The challenge of the transformation programme, which includes several projects, was to turn the catchment into a network of habitats for plants and animals, and into a beautiful 'backdrop' for tourists and holidaymakers to cross by bicycle, boat or on foot and where to spend a few days. The aspiration of farmers to broaden their businesses was also connected with this programme.

The renaturalisation of the river gains special importance in the light of climate change. In the Netherlands precipitation patterns are projected to change: mean annual precipitation is expected to increase by up to 5% and extreme events (10-day amount exceeded once in 10 years) are expected to increase by up to 17% in winter and up to 22% in summer by 2050 (KNMI, 2015). Increased winter rainfall is likely to increase peak discharges and flood risk. Hot summer days with maximum temperatures over 25°C are expected to increase by up to 70% by 2050 and consequently also droughts (e.g. highest precipitation deficits exceeded once in 10 years by up to 25% by 2050). This will lead to an increasing need for water retention for nature and agriculture. With the old modified river structure, such precipitation patterns would have led to severe problems and water retention would have been very limited.