2.3 European Drought Policy: Policy Relations Between
Flooding, Drought, Agriculture and Nature
The structure of the remainder of the chapter is organized so that relevant policy
instruments on water scarcity and drought at the EU-level are explored holistically.
Because there is a wide entry point for discussing water scarcity and drought-related
policy instruments, we chose to focus on three perspectives, namely: nature (or
conservation-based perspectives), water (specifically, the water management perspective) and agriculture (including the land management perspective). We recognize that other key perspectives exist, including the land planning perspective
and the socio-economic perspective, among others.
In addition, as describing individual policy instruments would simply produce a
long list and dilute the purpose of this chapter, a more systems approach is applied
in order to explore relevant water scarcity and drought policy mixes. Such an
approach inherently introduces more complexity. At the same time, it aims to distill
that complexity to produce a comprehensive understanding of the policy landscape
at hand.
In consequence, directives, often composed of several interacting policy
instruments, are explored alongside Communications, often a single policy
instrument interconnected with and embedded into larger the broader policy space.
The aim of the section in suite is to provide an entry point for untangling the policy
mixes and the relationships and interactions among the individual policy instruments. As a result, each section applies the categories developed by Landgrebe
et al. (2011): (1) history, aims and objectives, (2) structure, and components and
implementation and (3) relevance to drought policy implementation in order to
structure the analysis.
In the following sections, we examine eight policy mixes: the EU Climate
Adaptation Policy, the European Commission’s Communication ‘Blueprint to
Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources’, the EU Water Framework Directive, the EU
Floods Directive, the EU Habitat and Birds Directives, the EU Groundwater
Directive, and the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). As already touched on, each policy mix applies one or more of the three perspectives outlined
above as an entry point for analysis.
Lastly, it is also important to note that this chapter acknowledges that water
scarcity and drought policies at the EU level also operate horizontally, such as
within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) Directives, the Sustainable Development Strategy (European
Council DOC 10917/06), (Council of the European Communities 1979), and
cohesion policies (Cohesion Funds and Structural Funds). However, due to the
scale of these regimes, they remain outside the scope of this chapter.
EU Climate Adaptation policy is one of the main drivers for activities related to
WS&D. This policy is aiming at reducing the vulnerability of relevant sectors (e.g.
agriculture, tourism, industry, energy and transport) and thus mainstreaming of
climate change aspects into other EU policies is the main priority.
2 European Drought and Water Scarcity Policies
25
Flooding, Drought, Agriculture and Nature
The structure of the remainder of the chapter is organized so that relevant policy
instruments on water scarcity and drought at the EU-level are explored holistically.
Because there is a wide entry point for discussing water scarcity and drought-related
policy instruments, we chose to focus on three perspectives, namely: nature (or
conservation-based perspectives), water (specifically, the water management perspective) and agriculture (including the land management perspective). We recognize that other key perspectives exist, including the land planning perspective
and the socio-economic perspective, among others.
In addition, as describing individual policy instruments would simply produce a
long list and dilute the purpose of this chapter, a more systems approach is applied
in order to explore relevant water scarcity and drought policy mixes. Such an
approach inherently introduces more complexity. At the same time, it aims to distill
that complexity to produce a comprehensive understanding of the policy landscape
at hand.
In consequence, directives, often composed of several interacting policy
instruments, are explored alongside Communications, often a single policy
instrument interconnected with and embedded into larger the broader policy space.
The aim of the section in suite is to provide an entry point for untangling the policy
mixes and the relationships and interactions among the individual policy instruments. As a result, each section applies the categories developed by Landgrebe
et al. (2011): (1) history, aims and objectives, (2) structure, and components and
implementation and (3) relevance to drought policy implementation in order to
structure the analysis.
In the following sections, we examine eight policy mixes: the EU Climate
Adaptation Policy, the European Commission’s Communication ‘Blueprint to
Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources’, the EU Water Framework Directive, the EU
Floods Directive, the EU Habitat and Birds Directives, the EU Groundwater
Directive, and the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). As already touched on, each policy mix applies one or more of the three perspectives outlined
above as an entry point for analysis.
Lastly, it is also important to note that this chapter acknowledges that water
scarcity and drought policies at the EU level also operate horizontally, such as
within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) Directives, the Sustainable Development Strategy (European
Council DOC 10917/06), (Council of the European Communities 1979), and
cohesion policies (Cohesion Funds and Structural Funds). However, due to the
scale of these regimes, they remain outside the scope of this chapter.
EU Climate Adaptation policy is one of the main drivers for activities related to
WS&D. This policy is aiming at reducing the vulnerability of relevant sectors (e.g.
agriculture, tourism, industry, energy and transport) and thus mainstreaming of
climate change aspects into other EU policies is the main priority.
2 European Drought and Water Scarcity Policies
25