RDE696 Blackwater and Colne Source to Sea System mapping

Description

This work is to develop a series of system maps each with specific focus on representing the key system functions and flow for key assets and the ecosystem services and benefits provided by estuarine, coastal and marine assets. This work will be focussed on the Blackwater and Colne estuary in Essex (Figure 1) as part of a wider project that is applying a natural capital approach from source-to-sea (S-2-S) happening there (henceforth referred to as BW&C S2S), which is attempting to break down siloes and ineffective interventions, to achieve greater social, economic and environmental benefits.
By enabling us to include key sentinel estuarine, coastal and marine assets in the development of systems maps that cover the whole water system we can understand the complex issues in the whole catchment area and better integrate our work across the Environment Agency's (EA's) terrestrial and marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programmes. This will include environmental, social and economic components e.g. existing human water infrastructure such as pipes and barriers.