River starts to rise here in northern Europe (5)
I believe the answer is:
rhine
'river' is the definition.
(Rhine River is an example)
'starts to rise here in northern europe' is the wordplay.
'starts to' suggests taking the first letters.
'europe' becomes 'E' (abbreviation eg in E number).
The initial letters of 'rise here in northern' is 'rhin'.
'rhin'+'e'='RHINE'
(Other definitions for rhine that I've seen before include "Bonn's river" , "water" , "Cologne's river" , "River, rising in Switzerland and flowing into the North Sea" , "Great river that flows through Germany" .)