Rur@l news

European Commission Directorate-General For Agriculture And Rural Development

Description

Newsletter for the EN RD7, December 2009
Regional policy and regional economies
Agricultural policy
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-AGRICULTURE-AND-RURAL-DEVELOPMENT
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

R U R @ L N E W S 7 N E W S L E T T E RF O RT H EE NRD2 0 0 9D e c e m b e r

F O C U S

Water: the essence of rural life

Water is a fundamental resource that estimated to consume69% oftotal EU water use. Completion of the RBMPs later this year much of EU rural development activity will, for the first time, provide a comprehensive depends upon, in one way or another, coverage of up to date intelligence about water and this focus article takes a look at some management issues at EU level, as well as the of the issues affecting the quality and actions at ground level required for sustaining both quantity and quality of supplies in differ-quantity of water sources in rural areas. ent parts of the EU. Water management has been identified by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Health Checkimplementing rules for the specific mea-as The a key challenge facing EU agriculture and ruralsure concerning payments linked to the WFD areas, and wise water use can make direct contri-will be in place as from 2010. The measure may butions to other challenges that the EU is facingbe used once a RBMP becomes operational, vis-à-vis biodiversity conservation and tacklingthat is starting in 2010 and by 2012 at the climate change. Correlations between the latterlatest. In addition, a number of other measures and sustainable water management have alsoon water management are already available been reaffirmed by the Commission in a 2009and being used in the Rural Development Staff Working Document titledAdapting to climateProgrammes (RDPs). change: the challenge for European agriculture and rural areas. The document notes a need for water- RDP roles related rural policy actions to complement overall EU strategic objectives for water policy, which areRDPs provide an opportunity to help land set out in theWater Framework Directive(WFD). managersimplement actions in rural areas that contribute to the RBMP goals. A variety of useful A number of important WFD developmentswater management actions can be financed are expected to start full implementationfrom the RDP axes and many RDPs have been from 2010 onwards and these include theRiverdesigned to take account of water management Basin Management Planswhich willconcerns affecting their individual territories. A (RBMPs), affect all users of EU water resources in ruralselect (non-exhaustive) sample of such RDP sup- areas, particularly agriculture, since farming isport options is presented in table 1.

Table 1: Sample of eligible water management actions within EU RDPs Finland (mainland)Recycling of drainage or run-off waters and controlled irrigation France (Corsica)Support specifically for low pressure irrigation systems Germany (Bayern)Flood prevention measures including preparatory costs for flood protection works Greece Actionsto protect priority wetland habitats Luxembourg Reductionof water pollution risks in sensitive areas Hungary Communalinvestments in the development of irrigation outside the farms Malta Irrigationsystems designed to meet Community Standards and WFD provisions Portugal (mainland)Group approaches to tackling water stress Slovenia Educationand certification for users of sustainable irrigation systems

Published by: Rob Peters, Head of Unit, EC Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development. This publication does not necessarily express the official views of the Commission.

European Commission

SUMMARY

FOCUS: Water: the essence of rural life___ 1

RDP roles ........................................................1

ENRD ACTIVITIES UPDATE___________ 3

Leader subcommittee news....................3

Sweden’s first ‘Rural Awards’ winners......3

Website developments .............................3

NEWS ABOUT__________________ 3

Additional rural development fund approvals .......................................................3

Regional and international cooperation between rural networks ..........................4

Boosting rural skill-bases in Belgium...4

Expert support for EU organic sector ..4

Agricultural and rural policy under Commissioner Fischer Boel .....................4

TOUR OF THE MEMBER STATES________ 4

Slovakia ...........................................................4

WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE__________ 5

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