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Content

• Principles of the Water Framework Directive

• WFD and Agriculture

• WFD and CAP

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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.

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Thank you for your attention