Sustainability of European Irrigated Agriculture under Water Framework Directive and Agenda 2000

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WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE AND IRRIGATION sectors have destroyed significant natural assets by inundation. Dams and diversions present physical barriers to fish migration, alter stream flow regimes and water temperature, and trap sediments. Consequences include severe degradation of aquatic and riparian habitats, with significant threats to aquatic species. Surface return flows and drainage from irrigated agriculture carry salts, fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants into surface waters, causing harm to fish and wildlife, and degrading water for human uses. Aquifers used for drinking water are also contaminated by agricultural pesticides and nitrogen when irrigation water percolates through the ground into the saturated zone 2 . Irrigation is not the only responsible agent, but one of the biggest driving forces and pressures on water resources is agriculture and changes in practices. On average, agriculture accounts for about 2.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of EU-15 Member States. Percentages, however, vary considerably from 1% in Germany and the UK to about 12% in Greece. In most countries these percentages have been falling during the past few decades, reflecting the relative decrease in the importance of agriculture in comparison to other economic sectors. However agriculture is still a very important economic sector in the EU Accession Countries. Pressures on agriculture water use may therefore increase in Eastern Europe, where agricultural water demand has been falling as a result of economic problems and changes in land ownership. Generally speaking, a major influence on the increase in irrigated land in the EU has been the Common Agricultural Policy, which controls the type and quantity of crops grown. 2. THE FUTURE OF THE CAP The history of the CAP has always been one of adaptation to internal and external forces on the agricultural sector. There has been a long series of modifications to policy goals and instruments in reaction to the changing agricultural environment. The latest significant changes were adopted in 1999 as part of the Agenda 2000 framework, which aims to solve internal (justification of social support) and external (the next WTO round and EU enlargement) problems (Buckwell, 1997). These problems were addressed in the Agenda 2000 Reform that continues the 1992 Reform in the sense of progressing in the direction of institutional prices that are in line with world prices (i.e. lower) and compensating for this reduction by direct payments to farmers. Some experts have criticised this reform as being too timid and for not providing an adequate solution to these problems. The latest reform (2003) is the result of the following driving forces: • Consumer demand for sustainable agriculture that guarantees healthy and safe food • External pressures on opening markets and free trade • Budgetary constraints 2 In addition to these impacts on water resources and related ecosystems, irrigated agriculture has an ancient foe: salinization of irrigated soils. Dissolved salts introduced by the application of irrigation waters are progressively concentrated by evaporation and plant transpiration. If these salts are allowed to accumulate in the root zone, agricultural productivity falls. When these salts are leached beyond the root zone, ground water quality and downstream surface quality can be impaired. Thus salinity constitutes both an on-farm management problem for irrigators and an off-farm externality for other water and environment users 27
THE SUSTAINABILITY OF EUROPEAN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE These factors produced a deep-going reform of CAP in the direction of a more decoupled policy with internal prices that are more in line with world prices and compensation for this reduction in the form of direct payments to farmers. the main lines of the reform are: • Decoupling support from production • Modulation of farm support. This drivers and results of Reform 2003 imply a certain nationalization of the CAP, withimportant impacts on markets and regional cohesion, and uncertainties for farming systems. In this new scenario agricultural sectors with higher productivity will be affected more severely than low-input agriculture, and irrigated agriculture will be therefore severely jeopardised because: • Irrigation is relatively intensive in energy, chemicals and labour, and some products (cereals, sugar beet) may not be competitive under international competition and price conditions • The supply of ‘environmental goods’ is not so clearly justified in irrigation as it may be argued to be in extensive low-input agriculture. Table 3.1 summarises the changes in agricultural policy priorities. In the past Future Issues and concerns Poverty in rural areas Increasing food demand Water and soil pollution Table 3.1: Priorities of CAP policy Objectives Equity & rural development Food self-sufficiency Sustainable development Budgetary constraints Economic efficiency Agricultural water pricing Lower prices Higher prices However, increasing the water supply for irrigation has been subjected to rising marginal costs and recently also to growing concern about the environmental impact of water use. Improvements aimed at getting as much as possible out of limited resources can be seen in the growing importance of drip irrigation. But irrigation is not the only user of water, and human activities and population have a higher priority when scarcity appears (as is the rule rather than the exception in many Mediterranean regions), which implies: • guaranteeing sufficient, regular and safe water supplies • efficient and effective water distribution systems • equitable use of shared water resources in transborder systems. Such an emphasis entails four key activities: comprehensive water policy and integrated planning; improving water consumption by users and uses; advanced water treatment, re-use and energy implications; and plant breeding for efficient water and nutrient use. 28
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THE CASE OF SPAIN.RIVER GUADALQUIVI
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7 The case of the River Duero Basin
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Features Province Altitude (m a.s.l
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THE SUSTAINABILITY OF EUROPEAN IRRI
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THE CASE OF GREECE • Employment i
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THE CASE OF GREECE In all three are
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THE CASE OF GREECE FARM INCOME (€
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THE CASE OF GREECE When water price
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THE CASE OF GREECE Rising water pri
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THE CASE OF GREECE FERTILIZER DEMAN
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THE CASE OF GREECE Figure 8.24. Env
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Sustainability of European Irrigated Agriculture under Water Framework Directive and Agenda 2000

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