Introducing ESME: a new online tool to transform river management
The Environment Agency has launched a first-of-its-kind, open, and transparent tool to help people protect England’s rivers in a changing world.
The Ecosystem Service Map Explorer (ESME) tool provides a powerful way to visualise the services and benefits we receive from rivers across the country. The maps reveal where rivers are in a condition to continue serving communities, and conversely, where interventions might be needed.
Developed by a team of natural capital experts, ESME uses the latest evidence on condition of the water environment to model and map ecosystem service capacity – that is, the potential to provide key ecosystem services.
Decision-makers can use ESME to support environmental planning and investment, complementing regulatory frameworks to achieve better outcomes for nature, people, and the economy. In this webinar Alice Crouch (Environment Agency). Jim Rouquette (Natural Capital Solutions) and Chris Osborne (Natural Capital Solutions) will introduce the ESME tool, and how it has been developed, and will demonstrate how ESME can be applied. It will support users to start exploring and using ESME outputs in their work. We welcome your feedback and questions about ESME, as well as any applications you have in mind.
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Alice Crouch
Natural Capital Senior Advisor, Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group
Alice Crouch
Natural Capital Senior Advisor, Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group
Alice Crouch (MCIWEM C.WEM CEnv CSci) is a Natural Capital Senior Advisor within the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, where she leads the development and application of geospatial evidence for the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme. With over 20 years’ experience across water environment management, environmental reporting, and data science, she specialises in translating complex environmental data into evidence to support decision-making. Alice works with partners across sectors to improve environmental data systems and strengthen the evidence base for decision-making, with a particular focus on enabling natural capital approaches to deliver better outcomes for people and nature.
Jim Rouquette
Director and co-founder, Natural Capital Solutions
Jim Rouquette
Director and co-founder, Natural Capital Solutions
Jim Rouquette (BSc MSc PhD) is a Director and co-founder of Natural Capital Solutions. He is an experienced environmental and interdisciplinary scientist having spent over 20 years working in academia and as a consultant. He is an expert in natural capital and ecosystem services assessment, including modelling, mapping and monetary valuation, biodiversity and natural capital net gain, natural capital accounting, opportunity mapping, and stakeholder engagement. Jim has extensive project management experience and leads teams in helping clients understand their natural capital assets and the opportunities that they present. Jim has a proven ability to establish good working relationships with client teams and partners, alongside excellent written, inter-personal, and presentational skills.
Chris Osborne
GIS Developer, Natural Capital Solutions
Chris Osborne
GIS Developer, Natural Capital Solutions
Chris Osborne (BA MSc) is a GIS Developer at Natural Capital Solutions. He specialises in GIS and remote sensing applications, particularly using open-source platforms and is skilled in web development and database management. Having previously worked for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for four years, he has successfully employed these skills in the conservation sector. In previous roles, he has served as the GIS lead for projects including the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and Pennine PeatLIFE.
FAQ
The Ecosystem Service Map Explorer (ESME) is a first of its kind open and transparent tool. It uses evidence on the condition of the water environment to model and map ecosystem service capacity (i.e. the potential to provide key ecosystem services). In doing so, ESME can advance the environmental sector’s ability to map and understand natural capital.
You can learn more about the ESME tool here. The ecosystem service datasets, methodology, and many of the indicators displayed within this tool were produced by Natural Capital Solutions and the River Restoration Centre, in collaboration with the Environment Agency’s Natural Capital team. The data and accompanying reports are available from the Defra Data Services Platform and GOV.UK. Learn more about the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme here.
This webinar will introduce and provide an overview of the ESME tool, how it has been developed and how it can be applied.
This event is suitable for practitioners, environmental planners, policymakers and natural capital professionals interested in river management. In particular, it will support users to understand how the ESME tool and its outputs can be used in their work.
