Safeguarding Europe's Waters: 2012 Blueprint for Sustainability and Vulnerability

1. 2012 Blueprint to SafeguardEurope’s watersState of play Water Directors Meeting, Budapest, 26 May 2011

2. 2012 Blueprint to safeguard EU Waters: Outlook of sustainability and vulnerability of EU water resources « Fitness Check» EU water policy instruments Policy Options Land-use Ressource efficiency Economic Instruments Governance Knowledge Base Nov 2012 Blueprint To Safeguard EU Waters Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Report on 2009 River Basin Management Plans Review Water Scarcity & Droughts Strategy Review Water Scarcity & Droughts Strategy Review Water Scarcity & Droughts Strategy Review Water Scarcity & Droughts Strategy Review Water Scarcity & Droughts Strategy Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation

3. Outlook of sustainability and vulnerabilityof EU water resources Scenarios (e.g. ClimWatAdapt) Driving Forces Responses Pressures State EEA 2012 State of Water Assessment Impacts

4. EEA 2012 State of Water Assessment- following SOER 2010 five Water thematic assessments (20-40 pages) synthesis/integrated report - following SOER synthesis Baseline – overview of current status and pressures affecting Europe’s water • Coastal and transitional waters • Hydromorphology pressures; • Inland surface waters – ecological status & pressures; • Water resource efficiency and water economics; • Water and vulnerability (water scarcity and droughts, floods;) Synthesis Thematic assessments

5. The hydrological cycle does not respect States' borders

6. The EU Response: The Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water • Goal: To ensure good quality water in sufficient quantities for all legitimate uses • Time horizon: 2020 as the EU 2020 Strategy • The Water Milestone on the Resource Efficiency Roadmap • The analysis underpinning the Blueprint goes up to 2050

7. 3 types of action • Implementation • Integration • Completion

8. Better Implementation • The assessment of the River Basin Management Plans delivered by the Member States, which is legally required under the Water Framework Directive • The Fitness Check of EU water policy

9. Better integration In particular: • Agriculture • Transport • Energy • Regional and cohesion policy, research

10. Completion • The review of the EU policy on Water Scarcity and Drought • The assessment of the vulnerability of water resources to climate change and other man made pressures

11. Fitness Check • Support contract (Deloitte/IEEP) was launched in Juanuary 2011 • Stakeholder interviews, litterature review, web survey. • 1st Fitness Check stakeholder workshop • 83 participants: • Member states (18 Member States represented) • Stakeholders • European Commission / EEA / Deloitte/IEEP • Presentation draft findings Deloitte/IEEP scoping report • Litterature review, interviews, web-survey • Additional comments have been submitted by SCG members until 23 May • Final report to be available end-June 2011 • A starting point: • Help scoping the issues to be analysed in more detail in the 2nd semester 2011 • Next Steps: • Stakeholder and Public Consultation September-November 2011 • 2nd Stakeholder Workshop December 2011 • Fitness Check Report: Spring 2012

12. Policy Options • 7 key areas. Policy options to be selected on the basis of the IA and presented in the Blueprint. • Land Use • Economic Incentives • Water use targets • Governance • Knowledge Base • Innovation • Global Dimension

13. Develop a positive role for land-use • Land Use change is one of the main drivers of the degradation of water resources and vulnerability to extreme events. • Identify and analyse natural water retention measures that could be widely implemented at EU level • Reforestation, soil management, sustainable urban drainage systems, floodplain restoration, etc • Define the policy instruments that can accelerate the implementation of those measures. • Guidelines for RBMP • Integration into territorial management instruments (CAP, Cohesion Policy, local planning) • Payment for Ecosystem Services

14. Economic incentives for a more efficientwater resources management • Develop a consistent approach for the internalisation of costs from water use and water pollution. • The options to be developed include: • More concrete criteria for pricing, taxation, removal of harmful subsidies, etc. • Setup of water allocation schemes (including tradable permits) in water scarce areas. • Payment for ecosystem services • Certification schemes • Water efficiency in buildings and distribution networks

15. Water efficiency targets and measuresto protect water resources • Starting point: ClimWatAdapt project • Indicators of the water gap in Europe in 2020 or 2050, combining climate change and socio-economic scenarios • Link with Water and Ecosystem accounts, currently developed by the EEA • The Blueprint will provide indicative water efficiency targets • at EU level taking into account the great variety of situations across economic sectors and geographic areas. • Sensitivity analysis: physical/virtual water transfers • Policy Options: • Development of targets for water efficiency (and quality improvement) in the MS at sectoral and river basin level

16. Governance • The key conclusions of the Fitness Check (FC) will be taken up in the Blueprint • The FC will also provide a set of specific objectives for improving the governance system stemming from EU water policy • On that basis, and building on the RBMPs assessments, options to be developed will aim at: • Supporting an administrative setup (at both national and trans-boundary level, e.g. enhancing the role of River Basin Authorities) • Improve the efficiency of the implementation (e.g. reporting requirements) while providing the reactive capacity needed to face emerging challenges (e.g. climate change adaptation)

17. Knowledge base for water policy making • Stronger statistics activity on pressures on water resources • Increased use of satellite and land GMES observations • Enhanced Water Information System for Europe (WISE) to include policy relevant indicators • Development of a roadmap for water research under the next Framework Programme

18. Innovation Plans for an Innovation Partnership on Water Efficiency: • To identify barriers to innovation in water resource management and ways to overcome them

19. Global aspects • Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on access to drinking water and sanitation • Relevant outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference • Supporting integrated water management in developing countries

20. Calendar / Next steps 2011-II 2011-III 2011-IV 2012-I 2012-II 2012-III 2012-IV Studies Water saving, pricing, footprint Water Efficiency in Buildings WSD Gap Analysis ClimWatAdapt Natural water Retention measures Assessment RBMP – Pressures & Measures IA Revision Groundwater Directive Support to Impact Assessment Modelling Use Water Resources Water resource balances Fitness Check Pub. Cons. FC/ WSD Options Events 10/5 16/9 WWF6 GW Fin ISC Adoption IAB IAB 16/11