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Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

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<strong>Climate</strong> <strong>Change</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>European</strong> <strong>Water</strong> <strong>Dimension</strong><br />

Chapter V.C. <strong>Climate</strong> <strong>Change</strong>, Ecological<br />

Status <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> WFD<br />

Key Points<br />

• At <strong>the</strong> time scale of <strong>the</strong> programs of measures foreseen<br />

under <strong>the</strong> <strong>Water</strong> Framework Directive, considerable change<br />

in climate can be expected.<br />

• <strong>Climate</strong> change effects on aquatic ecosystems cannot be<br />

mitigated at <strong>the</strong> level of <strong>the</strong> river basins, but only at global<br />

scale.<br />

• Reference conditions, <strong>the</strong> basis of ecological classification<br />

in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Water</strong> Framework Directive, are likely to change with<br />

climate <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>refore cannot be considered as static.<br />

• Adaptation of <strong>the</strong> classification scales could be allowed by<br />

adjusting reference conditions to accommodate effects of<br />

climate change that cannot reasonably be mitigated.<br />

• <strong>Climate</strong> change effects on aquatic ecosystems are not fully<br />

understood, <strong>and</strong> in many cases inherently unpredictable.<br />

Long-term monitoring of minimally impacted sites is highly<br />

important to measure <strong>and</strong> underst<strong>and</strong> climate change<br />

effects on reference conditions<br />

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