River Basin Districts (RBDs) and/or their subunits are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive. The geographic area of some RBDs span more than one country (such as the Danube) and these are known as International RBDs. Others are contained completely within a country and are known as National RBDs. River basin districts are defined as the area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is identified under Article 3(1) as the main unit for management of river basins. Coastal waters are defined as one nautical mile from the coastline and extending, where appropriate, up to the outer limit of transitional waters. Coastal waters are included in RBDs, but this is not consistenly reported by Member States. Transitional waters are defined as bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows. For more information about European waters, please visit the WISE portal (http://water.europa.eu/).

River Basin Districts (RBDs) and/or their subunits are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive. The geographic area of some RBDs span more than one country (such as the Danube) and these are known as International RBDs. Others are contained completely within a country and are known as National RBDs. River basin districts are defined as the area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is identified under Article 3(1) as the main unit for management of river basins. Coastal waters are defined as one nautical mile from the coastline and extending, where appropriate, up to the outer limit of transitional waters. Coastal waters are included in RBDs, but this is not consistenly reported by Member States. Transitional waters are defined as bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows. For more information about European waters, please visit the WISE portal (http://water.europa.eu/).

Water Framework Directive (WFD) Article 3 river basin districts (RBDs) v1.3. Definition in WFD: River basin district means the area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is identified under Article 3(1) as the main unit for management of river basins. MS did not consistently include coastal waters in the RBD deliveries. Geographical coverage: EU Member States + Norway + Switzerland + neighbouring, international RBDs in non-EU Member States (derived from CCM1 catchments, JRC). The feature layer can be divided into four groupings by the following queries (in ArcGIS: copy and paste the query into the 'Definition Query' window in the layer properties): EU Member State RBDs: [EU_MS] = 'Y'; non-EU Member State RBDs: [EU_MS] = 'N' AND [intCode] = ''; EU Member State international RBDs: [INTERNATIONAL] = 'Y' AND [EU_MS] = 'Y'; Non-EU Member State international RBDs: [EU_MS] = 'N' AND [INTERNATIONAL] = 'Y'.

This raster dataset presents the ecosystem wetlands extent in 2012 in Europe. It includes 20 wetland classes which, besides inland and coastal wetlands, includes transitional ecosystems corresponding to wetlands such as riparian forests, wet grasslands, estuaries, or rice fields. A great diversity of wetlands exists making the definition of a wetland ecosystem both challenging and controversial. The development of an extended wetland ecosystem layer is an explicit policy request in Europe which builds on an ecosystem-based justification of an inclusive definition, delimitation and delineation of wetlands, looking at the “hydro-ecological” boundaries of this ecosystem (including their wetness and flow characteristics).

This dataset presents the resulting assessment grid (based on the EEA reference grid) with the classification of ecosystem health of the transitional, coastal and marine waters in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This classification has been performed using the MESH+ (Marine EcoSystem Health) tool. The MESH+ tool builds on the EEA assessment tools developed and applied in the context of assessing the degree of contamination (CHASE+), eutrophication (HEAT+) and biodiversity (BEAT+) in Europe's seas (EEA, 2018a, 2019c; Vaughan et al., 2019). MESH+ makes use of the same data sets and threshold values used in these assessments but recombines these in a new framework that addresses 'ecosystem condition'. The overall area of interest used is based on the marine regions and subregions under the MSFD. Additionally, Norwegian (Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea) and Icelandic waters (’Iceland Sea’) have been added (see Surrounding seas of Europe). Note that within the North East Atlantic region only the subregions within EEZ boundaries (~200 nm) have been included. The spatial resolution of the assessment grid is 20 km x 20 km in coastal areas and 100 km x 100 km in offshore areas. This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Marine Messages" (EEA, 2020).

This raster dataset presents the number of different hydrographical pressures per grid cell along the European coastlines. Hydrographical pressures are human activities that cause changes in hydrological conditions, i.e. changes to freshwater input, salinity, seawater flows, waves, currents, and temperature. Examples of such activities include riverine or coastal dams, offshore infrastructure, and outflows from power plants. The layer has been created using the Water Framework Directive (WFD) reported data on hydrographical pressures joined with the water body polygon features for the reference year 2016. The dataset was then rasterized into the EEA 10 km grid, and the cell values assigned with the number of different hydrographical pressures in the area covered by the cell. This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

The EEA potential flood prone area extent delineates the area that is flooded once every 100 years, i.e. the probability of flooding is 1% assuming that flooding is unrestricted. The potential flood prone area is comprised of the river channel and floodplain. In reality, the floodplain is split into an active floodplain where flooding still occurs, and former floodplain where flooding is restricted due to flood protection. The former floodplain could be flooded again either if a flood exceeds the capacity of flood protection, or if factors that control the presence of water were removed. These factors include channel and floodplain morphological alterations as well as structural flood protection measures. The spatial coverage of the data set is EEA39 countries.

The data set contains the location of areas which have been designated as requiring special protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to the Article 6 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC), Member States shall ensure the establishment of a register of all areas lying within each River Basin District which have been designated as requiring special protection under specific Community legislation for the protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including the protection of Natura 2000 sites and economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to Annex IV of the Water Framework Directive, the register shall include the following types of protected areas: (i) areas designated for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption under WFD Article 7; (ii) areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species; (iii) bodies of water designated as recreational waters, including areas designated as bathing waters under the Bathing Water Directive (BWD, Directive 76/160/EEC); (iv) nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas designated as vulnerable zones under the Nitrates Directive (Directive 91/676/EEC) and areas designated as sensitive areas under Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD, Directive 91/271/EEC); and The register shall also include "(v) areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the status of water is an important factor in their protection, including relevant Natura 2000 sites designated under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) and Birds Directive (Directive 79/409/EEC)." The Natura 2000 protected sites are not included in the current data set. The public data set excludes areas that are no longer designated. The public data set excludes drinking water protection areas if file access has been restricted by the data providers.

The data set contains the location of areas which have been designated as requiring special protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to the Article 6 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC), Member States shall ensure the establishment of a register of all areas lying within each River Basin District which have been designated as requiring special protection under specific Community legislation for the protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including the protection of Natura 2000 sites and economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to Annex IV of the Water Framework Directive, the register shall include the following types of protected areas: (i) areas designated for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption under WFD Article 7; (ii) areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species; (iii) bodies of water designated as recreational waters, including areas designated as bathing waters under the Bathing Water Directive (BWD, Directive 76/160/EEC); (iv) nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas designated as vulnerable zones under the Nitrates Directive (Directive 91/676/EEC) and areas designated as sensitive areas under Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD, Directive 91/271/EEC); and The register shall also include "(v) areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the status of water is an important factor in their protection, including relevant Natura 2000 sites designated under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) and Birds Directive (Directive 79/409/EEC)." The Natura 2000 protected sites are not included in the current data set. This data set is available only for internal use of the European Commission and the European Environment Agency. Please search for "PUBLIC VERSION" in the dataset title to access the publicly available version. The internal data set includes areas that are no longer designated. The internal data set includes drinking water protection areas for which file access has been restricted by the data providers.

The data set contains the location of areas which have been designated as requiring special protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to the Article 6 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC), Member States shall ensure the establishment of a register of all areas lying within each River Basin District which have been designated as requiring special protection under specific Community legislation for the protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including the protection of Natura 2000 sites and economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish). According to Annex IV of the Water Framework Directive, the register shall include the following types of protected areas: (i) areas designated for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption under WFD Article 7; (ii) areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species; (iii) bodies of water designated as recreational waters, including areas designated as bathing waters under the Bathing Water Directive (BWD, Directive 76/160/EEC); (iv) nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas designated as vulnerable zones under the Nitrates Directive (Directive 91/676/EEC) and areas designated as sensitive areas under Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD, Directive 91/271/EEC); and The register shall also include "(v) areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the status of water is an important factor in their protection, including relevant Natura 2000 sites designated under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) and Birds Directive (Directive 79/409/EEC)." The Natura 2000 protected sites are not included in the current data set. This data set is available only for internal use of the European Commission and the European Environment Agency. Please search for "PUBLIC VERSION" in the dataset title to access the publicly available version. The internal data set includes areas that are no longer designated. The internal data set includes drinking water protection areas for which file access has been restricted by the data providers.