Tag Archive for: Water resilience strategy

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Living Rivers Europe recommendations to strengthen the EU Water Resilience Strategy

The European water resilience strategy will be voted on at the beginning of June.

But following the recent report voted by the European Parliament on 7 May, and media reports on the Commission’s draft, the NGO coalition Living Rivers Europe fears that the forthcoming strategy lacks the tools needed to make Europe truly water resilient. The strategy is intended to respond to the growing urgency of water scarcity, floods, pollution, and ecosystem degradation across the continent.

Based on recent media reports, the draft text lacks the binding commitments, dedicated funding, and governance tools needed to ensure meaningful implementation and systemic change. Without those, ambition will remain on paper and will not be able to tackle growing pressures on Europe’s rivers and wetlands. On 20 May, the NGO coalition Living Rivers Europe sent a letter to the European Commission outlining their recommendations to ensure that the strategy can help Europe and citizens thrive.

At the beginning of May, the Living Rivers Europe coalition had already indicated that the European Parliament’s recommendations were a step in the right direction, but lacked ambition, with the text focusing on ‘grey infrastructures’ – i.e. systems and structures created by man – to the detriment of nature-based solutions.

In their report, adopted on 7 May by 470 votes to 81 with 92 abstentions, MEPs called for an ambitious strategy to enable the EU to better manage its water resources and respond more effectively to current challenges in this area. The text stresses that water is not only essential for health and life, but is also central to the European economy, its competitiveness and its efforts to adapt to climate change. The recommendations are aimed at water efficiency targets, pollution reduction and better disaster preparedness, but without any real tools. More info

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Living Rivers Europe publishes its position : Making Europe climate and water resilient

from wwf epo , 24 january

Europe stands at a critical juncture. As the fastest-warming continent, we are witnessing the devastating impacts of climate change – from deadly floods to severe droughts and wildfires – all driven by extreme water events. At the same time, Europe’s freshwater is widely polluted, with less than 30% of surface waters meeting pollution standards set by the Water Framework Directive. Time is running out, but decisive EU leadership can pave the way for a resilient future.

As the EU prepares its Water Resilience Strategy, the Living Rives Europe coalition is launching its joint position on the path forward for a water and climate resilient Europe.

Read the position here.