Water scarcity and droughts in the EU: Seeber report
Richard SEEBER (EPP-ED, AT) will be putting forward an own-initiative report on water scarcity and droughts in the European Union. The Environment Committee urges the Commission and Member States to acknowledge that deforestation and unrestrained urban development are contributing to growing water scarcity. The committee calls on the Member States and the authorities concerned to pay heed to water-related considerations in their land-use planning.
The report stresses
that the cross-regional and trans-border nature of river basins can
have a serious cross-border impact on upstream and downstream regions,
and that it is thus indispensable for the Member States, as well as
regional and local authorities, to cooperate on the issue of water
scarcity and drought ensuring sustainable and fair use of water
resources. The committee considers that the specificity of the water
scarcity and droughts issue requires coordinated action at EU and
Member State level as well as at regional and local government level.
The
Environment Committee calls on regional and local authorities to take
advantage of the great opportunities offered by the Structural Funds
and invest in the improvement or renewal of existing infrastructure and
technology (in particular in regions where water resources are wasted
due to leakages from water pipes) including, notably, clean
technologies that facilitate the efficient use of water and can be
linked to integrated water resource management (IRM), in particular to
address the challenge of water efficiency (in terms of savings and
reutilisation) in the industrial and agricultural sectors as well as on
the part of domestic consumers.
The
report stresses that planning for the European agricultural model
should take account of the most frequent and acute environmental
hazards as well as water scarcity and drought and that, in that
context, an effective crisis management mechanism should constitute a
fundamental element of the CAP.
MEPs
in the committee take the view that the environmental value of forests
and agricultural production must be reassessed in a context of climate
change where it is absolutely vital to balance the increase in
greenhouse gas emissions with an increase in forest cover, whose
contribution as a carbon sink must be taken into account in all
policies on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The
committee supports the Commission's commitment to continue to highlight
the challenge of water scarcity and drought at international level, in
particular through the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change.
Contact information |
Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats in the European Parliament: 60, Rue Wiertz /Wiertzstraat, B-1047 Brussels/ Richard SEEBER (EPP-ED, AT)
(email: epp-ed@europarl.europa.eu ; richard.seeber@europarl.europa.eu) Phone: +32 2 2842234 ; Fax +32 2 2306208 |
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News type | Inbrief |
File link |
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/briefing_page/38128-282-10-41-20080925BRI38127-08-10-2008-2008/default_p001c010_en.htm |
Source of information | EPP-ED Group in the Europpean Parliament |
Keyword(s) | Water Scarcity, Drought, desertification, water supply |
Subject(s) | AGRICULTURE , DRINKING WATER , DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION : COMMON PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION AND TREATMENT , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , INDUSTRY , NATURAL MEDIUM , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , WATER DEMAND |
Relation | http://www.international.sp.nl/bericht/28508/081007-water_scarcity_and_drought.html |
Geographical coverage | EU |
News date | 15/10/2008 |
Working language(s) | ENGLISH |