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

Climate Change
and the
European Water Dimension
Chapter V.D. Climate Change and Water
Use in Agriculture
Key Points
• Agriculture, as one of the main water users in Europe, uses
ca. 38% of the abstracted water with large regional
differences - 50 to 80 % in southern Europe, < 5% in
northern Europe.
• Climate change will affect agricultural crops directly via
changes in CO2, temperature, and precipitation and
indirectly via soil processes, weeds, pests and diseases
with difficult to predict positive and negative effects.
• Climate warming will cause a general northward expansion
of crop species, cultivars and management practices.
• Agriculture, therefore, is the most vulnerable human
activity under unfavourable climatic conditions. In Europe,
this is particularly true for the northern (temperaturelimited)
and southern (moisture-limited) regions.
• The large amount of water used for irrigation in the
southern European countries is critical. The already
existing water scarcity will be aggravated, including an
increased competition with other sectors.
• Possible mitigation strategies include short-term
adjustments that aim at optimising production without
introducing major system changes (e.g., use of different
cultivars, improved irrigation techniques, reducing water
losses) and long-term adaptations where heavier structural
changes will take place (e.g., change of farming systems
and land use types).
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