Approaches to the implementation of an ecosystems approach

In the last decade, catchment management has seen a wealth of new “top-down” legislation and policy initiatives, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, to take forward emerging demands for better integration and delivery of multiple benefits for society and the environment at the catchment scale. In parallel, there has been a growth of “bottom up” initiatives, some of these now representing advanced integrated approaches to Integrated Catchment Management (ICM), for example, Tweed Forum, the West Country Rivers Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts. The CATCH-II project represents a key opportunity to further learn from existing ICM experience, and contribute to the challenge of making catchment management relevant to practitioners.