WORKSHOP on CLIMATE CHANGE and Waterin the Agriculture Sector

WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE and WATERin the Agriculture Sector

1.-INTRODUCTION

In accordance with the programme of CIS activities agreed by Water Directors, a workshop on Climate Change and Water in the Agriculture Sector attracting 90 attendees from a range of Member Stateswas held in Madrid (Spain) in September. Presentations were received from, amongst others, the Water Directors of Spain, Poland and the UK, together with the Spanish Secretary of State and DG Env Head of Unit.

Representatives from industry, delivery bodies, policy makers, NGOs and consultancies attended to help identify the knowledge, action and policy requirements to supporta sustainable water management in the agricultural sector in the context of increasing water challenges resulting from climate change. The workshop was timed to enable input, via the Strategic Co-ordination Group and Water Directors, into current EU policy developments, including discussions on CAP post-2013 and the 2012 Blueprint to safeguard Europe's waters.

The workshop inevitably drew out a wide range of views and comments. Main messages from working sessions can be summarised in the following recommendations.

2. -RECOMMENDATIONS

That Water Directors:

1. Agree that long term and geographically broad monitoring networks are essential to identify climate trends and inform flexible and appropriate adaptation. Act with caution to current financial pressures to review investment in monitoring. Ensure that our ability to pick up climate change signals in the water environment is not eroded, taking action to preservemonitoring sites with long time series and promoting broad and coherent monitoring networks.
2. Propose the European Commission utilise the information obtained at the workshop, which identified current evidence, key challenges and evidence requirements,for its forthcoming proposal for the next Research Framework Programme.
3. Encourage Member Statesto develop simple communications to stakeholders and policy makers about the impacts, challenges and uncertaintiesof climate change facing water management in the agricultural sector. Propose that CIS groups support this activity.
4. Recommend EU policies,includingthe CAP and EU water policy,shoulddevelop mainstreaming ofadaptation, specifically through greater explicitness in the identification and evaluation of multi-objective adaptation measures for water managementin a long-term effective way.

3. –BACKGROUND TOTHE WORKSHOP

The key conclusions from the workshop are summarised below and the discussion behind these findings will be presented in a detailed report from the meeting already available.

A)Evidence, knowledge and knowledge gaps, need to be managed:

1. Agriculture is a sector that is constantly adapting to water availability and climate variability, in particular in many of the most water-stressed areas in Europe.

1. A large quantity of research has been completed or is under developmentat both the EU and MS and regional level to understand i) the link between water, agriculture and adaptation to climate change ii) the likely impacts of climate change. Nevertheless knowledge gaps and uncertainties still remain, and efforts to address these will improve our ability to make evidence based policy.

1. There is clear evidence across Europe of current challenges in relation to water and agriculture. The type of challenges varies significantly within and between Member States, particularly the variabilityin monthly precipitation. We should recognise regional differences and priorities in adaptation needs when policy making, to ensure flexibility.

1. In addition to direct climate change impacts (relating to changes in temperature and rainfall), indirect impacts (relating to changes in policy or trade pressures in response to climate change) will also be important. It is essential that policy across all areas is aligned to minimise direct and indirect risks.

1. In the context of uncertainty, it is essential that monitoring is taking place to allow the type and scale of adaptation response to be adjusted according to the level of climate (and socio-economic) change actually experienced. Monitoring programmes within the WFD should provide an effective network for identifying and attributing changes in the water environment, but in many Member States monitoring sites are under threat due to financial pressures. Water Directors should look to as far as possible protect against the erosion of monitoring.

B) Communication of existing knowledge is poor and needs to be developed:

1. As stated above, a large body of evidence has been developed on the links between water and agriculture and the likely impacts of climate change and associated uncertainties. However this knowledge is failing to reach decision makers. There is a need to integrate communication between water, agriculture and climate change communities at national and regional levels as well as at EU level. Results of projects should be shared with delivery bodies and technical departments and not just with policy makers. On the other hand, so as to better streamline research and policy funding, there is a need for academia to understand and respond to policy needs.

1. Climate projections should be provided in forms that can be easily used by stakeholders involved in water managementin the agriculture sector. Suggestions were made to use the same suite of scenarios for climate change scenarios, to allow consistent approaches to be applied and common terms of reference published. The EU climate change Clearing House Mechanism should provide progress in this regard.

1. Simple messages on climate risks and recommended adaptation actions should be embedded into existing communicationroutes with stakeholders in different Member States, for example via farmers’ unions or advisorsto reach the targeted audience. Simple and improved communications are also required around existing guidance on how to integrate climate change into river basin management (CIS guidance number 24). Such guidance should be regularly updated and have a strategy for communication.

1. The private sector has invested a significant amount in research within this area and public private partnerships should be developed to encourage evidence and knowledge sharing to prevent duplication. This would ensure transparency and value for money for the tax payer. Suggestions were made to identify where funding is currently focused and where the gaps are prior to allocating any further funding. The outputs of this workshop; current research, key challenges and future evidence requirements, have started the foundation of this work and it should be expanded on to encourage knowledge transfer through a clearing house approach. There should be a concerted effort by funders to avoid fragmentation of current and future research and to better share of information.

C) Forthcoming EU policy needs to integrate adaptation

1. Water is one of the main media through which the impacts of climate change will be felt by agriculture. Water related adaptation actions should be focussed on providing no regrets, multiple objective measures which consider efficiency, cost effectiveness and retain a level of flexibility to allow targeting.

1. Measures should also be refined to ensure they result in the expected benefits (for example, implementing innovative irrigation techniques should result in less total water being abstracted and ensuring more water is retained for ecosystem functioning or ensuring food security).

1. Forthcoming EU policies,in the water sector, such as the Blue Print for Water, should integrate adaptation, particularly through selecting a set of objective criteria or indicators that allow us comparing different measures to be implemented in different Member States with different climatic and geographic characteristics.

Annex A: The event structure

Attendees were divided into the following interest groups:

-Integrated water resources management and water operation systems

-Status of water bodies (surface and groundwater)

-Climatic variability. Extreme events

-Ecosystems resilience to climate change

-Socioeconomic aspects of impacts

-Science contribution to policy making

During the workshop, each group worked through the following sessions and fedtheir high level comments back in plenary sessions (plenary notes will be available shortly in a detailed report of the workshop):

Figure 1: A schematic of the workshop structure the workshop

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ANNEX B: Attendance list

Provided separately

ANNEX C: REPORT ON Conclusions from different working groups

Provided as separate piece of work

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