Ecosystem Service Map Explorer: River Asset Baseline (reach scale)

The Riverine Natural Capital Condition and Ecosystem Service Mapping project developed spatial riverine natural capital condition and ecosystem service evidence accessed via an open data mapping tool, the Ecosystem Service Map Explorer (ESME). It modelled the condition of rivers in England (and their surrounding catchments) and their capacity to provide ecosystem services. This dataset is the river asset baseline used to map riverine natural capital condition indicator and ecosystem service capacity data onto for river reach scale outputs, and includes underlying base scale attributes. The Open Rivers Network was segmented into environmentally homogenous reaches, with online lakes and culverts removed. It supports an England-wide geospatial evidence base for riverine natural capital condition and ecosystem service capacity to support environmental planning and delivery, but note the natural capital data is held within the ‘Ecosystem Service Map Explorer: River Ecosystem Services (reach scale)’ dataset. The river reaches derived for ESME were based on a network of points every 500m which is the limit of resolution, particularly impacting consideration of lakes and reservoirs. There may be snapping errors, particularly around river network loops and braids. Artificial break points may have been generated where a river runs close to a Water Framework Directive boundary. A pragmatic approach to river segmentation was applied and including further variables could improve the method. It is important to understand limitations and confidence in results and scale, for further information please refer to the ESME Applications and Limitations Guidance. Attribution statement: Produced by the Environment Agency. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Also contains data and/or information provided by 3rd parties under license, with permission, or under OGL3.0 as detailed in full in the ESME River Asset Baseline Attribution Statement document.