As highlighted in the European Water Resilience Strategy, the availability of clean, reliable water resources is key for our livelihoods, both for human health and wellbeing, food security, and environmental sustainability. However, in the light of a changing climate, water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource, which affects citizens, farmers, foresters, the environment and businesses alike. Not all regions and sectors will be affected in the same way, but rural areas and communities in general, and the forestry and agriculture sectors in particular, are severely affected by extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, and water scarcity. Taking action to improve water resilience to secure its ongoing availability is therefore paramount. This is also reflected in various environmental and water policies which address the sustainable use of water resources (e.g. EU Water Framework Directive).

There is a range of options to reduce the agriculture sector’s reliance on water, as well as to support rural areas to adapt to climate change. These include the reduction of losses and leakages, the use of less water-demanding crops, smart farming and more efficient irrigation systems, and rainwater harvesting, as well as nature-based solutions and improved soil health to increase water retention and infiltration to help mitigate flooding.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provides an extensive toolbox as well as funding to support agriculture, forest and rural areas in enhancing water efficiency, circularity and water retention via national CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs). Due to different needs, some Member States are more advanced than others in taking action in this area. There is huge potential to build on existing experience to improve the overall water resilience in rural areas across the EU.

In this first meeting of the Thematic Group (TG), we looked at Member States’ experiences in designing and implementing CAP interventions to improve water resilience in rural areas through reducing water demand and increasing the efficiency of water use (e.g. changing to less water-intensive crops, increasing water re-use and investing in nature-based solutions to improve infiltration and water retention in the landscape). We explored what factors have contributed to successful outcomes as well as challenges that need to be overcome.

Aims of the first meeting: