Optimising Water Framework Directive River Basin Management Planning Using an Ecosystem Services Approach

This project was undertaken for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), via a request to the CREW call down service as part of a range of SEPA initiatives under their Embedding Ecosystem Services work stream. The objective of this report is to review the process of River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) and identify how and where an Ecosystem Services Approach (ESA) might assist SEPA in improving their delivery of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The report describes a practical methodology to implement an ESA at the catchment scale to meet the requirements of the WFD and other water-related policies, while maximizing the potential delivery of multiple benefits. In doing so, we try to link the philosophy and tools of ESA to the specific policy implementation process of WFD, in a manner not done so far elsewhere.