Climate Change may affect Delivery of WFD objectives

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to achieve good status for all European waters by 2015. It establishes a framework for water management and policy based on the principle of integrated river basin management. The possible direct and indirect impacts of climate change on freshwater ecosystems are not well understood and have received relatively little attention to date. In particular, the Directive does not mention risks posed by climate change to the achievement of its environmental objectives. Nevertheless, the time scale for its implementation process extends into the 2020s, when climate models predict changes in temperatures and precipitations. A group of British researchers has recently assessed the main risks posed to the delivery of the WFD’s objectives by climate change from a UK perspective. The scientists first reviewed the latest UK climate change projections and the policy and science context of the WFD. Thereafter, they examined the potential risks of climate change to key phases of the river basin management process that supports the WFD, such as the characterisation of river basins and their water bodies, programmes of measures, monitoring, or associated management activities.