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• Protecting all waters, surface and ground waters
• Covering all impacts on waters.
• Good quality (‘good status’) to be achieved, as a rule, by 2015
• Water quality defined in terms of biology, chemistry and morphology
Water Framework Directive: key elements
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Water Framework Directive: key elements
• Water management at river basin level
• Definition of river basin management plans, including programmes of measures
• Cost Recovery and Equitable Charging
• Public Participation
• Attention paid to socio-economic impacts through a process of duly justified exemptions
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Water Framework Directive:Programmes of measures
• Basic measures (compulsory measures that have to be implemented in application of existing directives), notably drinking water, nitrates, habitat directives
• Supplementary measures, as economic or fiscal instruments, legislative instruments, codes of good practices, voluntary approaches, research,…
• Selection of the supplementary measures on the basis of cost-effectiveness analyses
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Formal transposition into national law Dec 2003
Environmental analysis, economic analysis Dec 2004
Monitoring programmes operational Dec 2006Public participation at the latest Dec 2006
Draft river basin management plans Dec 2008
Final river basin management plans Dec 2009
Implementation, assessment, adjustment 2015 and further
Implementation: A continuous and transparent process
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Water Framework Directive and Agriculture
• River basin analyses: risk analyses show that the main pressures are the pressures linked to agriculture and hydro-morphology for the 25 MS
• For the 10 new MS, there are additional industrial and domestic pollutions, as the associated EU legislation is being implemented with delay.
• It is a general statement. It is also obvious that the balance between the different pressures largely varies at regional level.
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Water Framework Directive and Agriculture
• Pressures coming form agriculture
• Widespread problem: diffuse pollutions by nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) resulting in river, lake and sea eutrophication
• Regional problems: contamination by pesticides, soil erosion, irrigation and over-abstractions, desiccation of wetlands, drainage consequences
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Water Framework Directive and Agriculture
• Some agricultural activities could be highly concerned by the WFD implementation.
• In some regions, going beyond “good practices” and “slight” adaptations will be needed.
• Examples: production extensification, conversion to organic farming, changes in soil coverage,…
• Water pricing: the WFD asks for « incitative pricing » and the recovery of the costs of water services.
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Water Framework Directive and Agriculture
• In the light of the strong interactions between the
water and agriculture policies, a strategic steering group
was put into place in 2005, involving water and
agriculture experts (Member States, DG AGRI and ENV,
parties concerned).
• The group firstly assessed the contribution of the CAP
reform to the WFD implementation.
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Water Framework Directive
and CAP (1rst pillar)
• In theory, support decoupling is supposed to reduce
incentives to intensification. But effects are still uncertain and
will vary across sectors and regions.
• Cross-Compliance is going to help the WFD implementation
as two directives (nitrates and groundwater) directly address
water issues. Some MS have set up interesting Good Agro-
Environmental Conditions (GAEC) for water issues.
• However, effects expected from Cross-Compliance are
limited. There is a large variability in the rigour of
implementation by MS. In addition, Cross-Compliance does not
cover all WFD aspects.
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Water Framework Directive
and CAP (2nd pillar)
• Rural development programmes are high potential
tools for the WFD (practices since 1992, good
acceptance by farmers, measures adapted to local
situations, lots of successful experiences,…)
• BUT, budgets are insufficient in comparison to
potential needs (partial evaluations and qualitative
interpretations).
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Solutions ?
• Costs (and benefits) of the WFD in the agricultural
sector are partially assessed. They depend on the
measures selected and on the level of use of exemptions
for socio-economic reasons.
• Two issues need to be address:
“Specific” effectiveness of the measures (cost-
effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses)
Distribution of charges and benefits between the
different actors – link with the question of the financial
transfers
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WFD and CAP: what options for the future?
• Statu quo: optimisation of existing tools and budgets
(looking for priorities and synergies in the RDP, rigour in
the implementation of the existing cross-compliance
standards). This is already a real challenge!
• Reinforcing the second pillar in a logic of public
supports oriented to production of public goods
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WFD and CAP: what options for the future?
• Reinforcing Cross-Compliance requirements to cover
all WFD aspects, with two issues at stake:
Is it cost-effective ? (evaluation of the existing process
will help in this respect)
If yes, what is the good option (Annex 3 or GAEC) ?
• Identifying other instruments and other sources of
funding (reminder: WFD asks for « incitative » water
prices and recovery of the costs of the water services)
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Next activities planned at EU level
• Strategic steering group on WFD and agriculture
Exchange of information on the future programmes
of measures regarding quantitative and qualitative
agricultural pressures on waters
Exchange of information and views about
prospective issues: conditions to develop new farming
systems - interaction of new policy development with
water management (bio fuels)
Exchanges of information on the rural development
programmes
Setting up of a catalogue of all possible measures
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Next activities planned at EU level
• Working group on environmental objectives and
exemptions
A study launched by the Commission is undertaking
a cost-benefit analysis on the implementation of
the WFD. This study will give particular attention to
the relationship between the WFD and agriculture.