The Rivers Trust is an environmental charity, with one of its three guiding objects being to protect, conserve, rehabilitate and improve the rivers of England and Wales for the public benefit.

The Rivers Trust recognises that environmental improvement of rivers cannot be achieved in isolation, and this section of the website covers the environmental regulatory framework in which we live and the government departments and agencies charged with administering and advising on that framework. It recognises that, though the original trigger for many rivers trusts emanates from fishery interests, the river ecosystem is much wider and more complex. The section therefore also covers and promotes sustainable, holistic and integrated catchment management and sound environmental practices, recognising the wider economic benefits for local communities.