This guidance provides tailored approaches for valuing ecosystem services in freshwater contexts. It focuses on seven key services: biomass provision, flood risk mitigation, carbon sequestration, nutrient retention, drought mitigation, recreation, and habitat provision.

It includes a MERLIN modelling tool that supports the assessment of restoration impacts on flood risk and nutrient retention using EU-wide data, and real-world case studies — including the use of Cost-Benefit-Analysis on five MERLIN case studies — are presented to show how the methods work in practice.