Healthy aquatic ecosystems for the fight against climate change

Carlos Sainz Ecosystem protection and public accountability must be central pillars of water policy. Zoom In

The EU water and nature Directives  provide a world-leading legal framework for managing water resources and wetland ecosystems. From this solid base, the EU must reverse the damaging trends of the 20th Century and prepare to meet the 21st Century challenges associated with climate change, such as severe floods and increased pressure on water resources.  Unfortunately, water management often still lacks transparency, despite clear EU public information and participation requirements. Narrow technocratic approaches – often vulnerable to manipulation by political, commercial, and agricultural interests - have contributed to the poor state of many EU wetlands and water resources. The first generation of River Basin Management Plans under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is late, lacks ambition and in many cases fails to tackle the most urgent problems.

Ecosystem protection and public accountability must be central pillars of water policy in the 21st Century, and the Spanish Presidency should show a strong lead in these areas to help prepare the EU for the urgent challenges associated with climate change.

Under the Spanish Presidency:

• The European Commission should report on progress with Water Framework Directive implementation by June 2010 and publish the most important successes and failures.
• In the International Year of Biodiversity, Member States should use Water Framework Directive River Basin Management Plans to protect aquatic ecosystems as an essential basis for human wellbeing, wetland biodiversity, and sustainable economic activity.
• The Presidency, European Commission and Member States should promote the role of specific programmes of wetland conservation, water efficiency, and cost-recovery in meeting Water Framework Directive environmental objectives and managing the effects of drought and water scarcity