Protection of water resources and integrated sustainable water management in the European Union and beyond - Council conclusions

3103rd ENVIRONMENT Council meeting

Luxembourg, 21 June 2011

english version

The Council adopted the following conclusions:

1. "RECOGNISING that while water availability and water quality are essential for sustainable development and green economy, waters face many threats including increasing trends of global population growth, urbanization, pollution, overexploitation, desertification and climate change.
2. STRESSING that these challenges are threatening our societies, especially in many developing countries. Recent studies show that competing demands for scarce water resources may lead to an estimated 40% global water supply shortage by 2030. Therefore, to achieve water resources protection and sustainable water management, a more sustained effort is necessary by all decision makers, users and stakeholders at all levels.
3. RECALLING that, in the course of past decades, the EU has considerably improved and expanded its water policy instruments. Among the most important achievements are the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Water Initiative (EUWI).
4. RECALLING the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region4 and the EU Strategy for the Danube and EMPHASIZING the importance of early exchange of experiences between macroregional strategies on the best practices of the implementation of the water-related priority areas.
5. UNDERLINING how, despite the progress made, the EU still faces challenges in water management which inter alia call for full and timely implementation of relevant EU legislation, and EXPRESSING its concern with the extreme hydrological events over the last years, which climate change is likely to aggravate.
6. RECOGNISING the need to take into account the diversity of water-related challenges within the EU and hence the need for appropriate flexibility for the Member States when developing water policies.