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Intermittent rivers, which do not flow all year round, have biophysical functioning specificities which need to be considered when defining management policies, even more so in the current context of global change. However, in Europe intermittent rivers benefit from the same regulations as permanent rivers, which undoubtedly leads to their degradation. This paper aims to identify (1) how perceptions and values of intermittent rivers interact with their management and (2) determine whether the prospect of climate change leads the stakeholders to questioning their perceptions and values of intermittent rivers and the way we should manage them. Semi-structured interviews and mental mapping exercises were conducted with 28 various stakeholders (elected officials, fishers, river managers, and residents), all of whom lived along the French intermittent Albarine River. Qualitative analysis of the discourses and maps confirms strong interactions between the perceptions and values related to intermittent rivers and their management. The results highlight social devaluation of the intermittent section in terms of aesthetics, recreation, and biological values. They also point to the role of power plays between river managers and fishers, in the prioritization of management actions that favor perennial sections to the detriment of intermittent ones. These dynamics of devaluing and discarding intermittent sections or rivers from management plans are all the more alarming as there is little propensity among river stakeholders to think about the future of these intermittent rivers and their value in the context of climate change, where the prevalence of intermittent rivers is likely to increase dramatically. • Stakeholders devalue intermittent rivers (IR) compared to perennial rivers. • Devaluation is due to aesthetic, recreational and biological reasons. • Devaluation leads to IR or IR sections being excluded from management plans. • Stakeholders do not consider a future with increased intermittency with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Seven categories of social impacts were identified in the literature review. • Most important negative impacts are on human rights and social equity. • Most important positive impacts are on wellbeing and livelihoods. • There is need to increase subjective assessment of impacts in protected areas. • Coordination of policies across sectors is needed to meet future biodiversity targets. Effective designation of Protected Areas (PAs) requires the careful consideration of their social impacts as these are perceived by people. These refer to a variety of issues such as the distribution of power, social equity, social relations and more importantly the impact of PAs on human wellbeing. A number of studies have emerged in the past decade aiming to capture social impacts of PAs across the world through non-monetary assessments taking into consideration people's perceptions. Although Europe is the region with the largest in proportion number of Protected Areas across the world it is also a region with very limited scientific evidence on this topic. As the European Union is preparing to implement its new Biodiversity Strategyto ipkmplement this paper aims to provide the first comprehensive review of the literature regarding social impacts of European PAs and highlight new directions for current policy frameworks in the region. The paper focuses on the perceived non-economic social costs and benefits of PAs and identifies 7 key categories of social impacts. We propose that policy planning for biodiversity conservation in Europe should incorporate subjective assessments of social costs and benefits with the aim to achieve an increase of benefits for people and their equal distribution across social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Weather disasters are a growing burden in Europe, because of increasing losses and costs of precautionary measures. • Socio-economic, climatic and environmental changes drive the growing risk. • The insurance industry can play a major role in the partnership for reduction of risk of weather extremes Over the last decades, the damage caused by weather events has increased dramatically and ubiquitously. In Europe, weather catastrophes constitute a growing burden on national economies and insurance companies, not least because of the costs of precautionary measures. For a long time, the insurance sector has flagged that weather disasters are on the rise, both in terms of the number of occurrences and material damage caused. The main reasons for this are: increase in the number and area of settlements in exposed areas, the accumulation of ever more valuable and vulnerable assets in these areas, as well as the climate and environmental changes that have already taken place. This paper examines observed changes in risk of various categories of weather disasters in Europe, backed by statistical analyses of relevant, updated information originating from a valuable and quite unique source, Munich Re's NatCatSERVICE database, that is of considerable interest and value to the scientific community and beyond (e.g. in the reinsurance and insurance industries). The paper also calls for partnership in the reduction of risk of weather extremes and discusses the role of the insurance industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Government policy shall address the strategic nature of local resource use decisions. • Local resource users face linked coordination, prisoner's dilemma, and zero-sum/externality situations. • Governments shape the behavior of local resource users via bundles of policy instruments. • Policy instruments contribute to local collective action via a handful of mechanisms. This paper presents a diagnostic approach to the role and capacity of governments to facilitate local collective action and alleviate environmental problems. The paper adds to a nascent scholarship aiming to conciliate theories on "governance by government" and "governance by self-organization". We adopt two premises for that purpose: (1) policy instruments shall be tailored to the strategic nature of local resource management decisions; and (2) such nature is not static and can be modified via governmental policies. We first build on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to characterize the decision-making situations that local resource users face and the local rules that shape said situations. Then, based on common pool resource (CPR) and policy instrument choice theory, we identify four mechanisms through which different policy instruments can facilitate local collective action (change in payoffs and their perception, reduction of transaction costs, reduction of uncertainty, and normative consonance). This analytical approach is then applied to four illustrative cases of water management in Germany, France, Greece and Spain. As shown, local resource users are embedded in not one but many overlapping decision-making situations. In this context, the promotion of collective action is rarely accomplished via a single policy instrument or mechanism but via bundles of them. Also, the paper illustrates the importance of understanding how governmental policies modify the structure of rules and incentives that affect local resource users, potentially facilitating local collective action and the solution of environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing societal demands on land require careful land management. In the era of the European Green Deal, farmers are required to meet some of these competing demands, specifically around production, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and biodiversity conservation. At the same time, 15.1% of total EU land is abandoned or underutilised, which means that it contributes neither to food, nor to ecosystem services, to its full potential. Reintegrating abandoned agricultural land back into production is therefore one of the potential pathways to deliver on the aspirations of the Common Agriculture Policy post-2020. In this paper we assess the potential of managing and reintegrating abandoned agricultural land in Europe to simultaneously increase primary productivity, carbon regulation and habitat for biodiversity, using Latvia as a national case-study that is representative of this challenge in a Baltic context. Our results show that for some regions, reintegration of abandoned agricultural land can lead to "triple win" synergies. These opportunities can be further exploited by applying best management practices to these reintegrated lands. In other regions, where the area of abandoned agricultural land is limited because of favourable biophysical conditions for intensive agricultural production, such "triple-win" synergies are scarce. In such areas, abandoned land plays a role in maintaining ecosystem services at local and regional scales, and even small increases in primary productivity come at the expense of biodiversity. This calls for careful management that involves diverse actor groups, including land managers, in the decision-making process, and in priority setting in each of the regions. • The EU Farm-to-Fork strategy calls for the agricultural sector to deliver on multiple societal demands. • Revaluing and reintegrating abandoned land is a promising and hitherto undervalued pathway to deliver on multifunctionality. • An evidence-based regional approach can maximise the efficacy of national land management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) aim to expand the access to environmental data. • SEIS has had a significant and positive impact on the production and harmonisation of environmental indicators. • Data harmonization problems (e.g., data collection, definitions, and legislation) remain throughout the pan-European region. • Non-evidence-based policymaking highlight a disconnect between data production and data use. • Need to improve our understanding of the political and behavioural determinants of data use. Access to high-quality, timely and comparable data is a prerequisite for any effective decision-making process and having such data available for the environment is absolutely fundamental to efficient and evidence-based policymaking. This article reviews the establishment of a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) in Europe and Central Asia to improve our understanding of how environmental data value chains are being employed to produce, share and use reliable data on the environment and whether this data is used in policymaking. Three sources of data are utilised to analyse whether relevant environmental data and information are being drawn upon by policymakers, namely, the 2019 SEIS mid-term review, SEIS Factsheets and SEIS Gap Analysis Reports. The results reveal that the pan-European region still faces significant data harmonisation problems, owing in part to differences in types and methods of data collection, data definitions and legislation. Whilst problems in some individual country's participation have persisted since the launch of the SEIS initiative in the pan-European region, the development and successful piloting of the SEIS self-assessment framework is considered as evidence of positive progress. However, it remains difficult to adequately assess to what extent the data flows covered by this study impact on policymaking, nevertheless, the analysis serves to highlight the inter-linkages between environmental data flows, policymakers and environmental governance. In practical terms, the paper demonstrate a disconnect between data production and data use in policymaking and emphasises the need to both improve our understanding of the political determinants of data use and to further investigate how the uptake of environmental data and information can be facilitated in policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the consequences of climate change is the increase in the frequency and entity of extreme weather events, including floods. Any strategy dealing with the various impacts of climate change must focus not only on mitigation aspects, but also on improving on the level of adaptive capacity. Over the past decades there has been an increase in the frequency and intensity of floods in Europe, a fact which has prompted the European Union (EU) to put forward the Directive 60/2007 (the ‘Floods Directive’), requiring Member States to produce a comprehensive Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP) by 2015. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the implementation of the ‘Floods Directive’ has contributed to the level of adaptive capacity in Austria, a EU member State hosting an important river basin. By relying on the existing literature, the paper first describes the governance system associated with flood risk management in Austria prior to the elaboration of the FRMP. Subsequently, based on collected primary data, the paper studies the governance structure associated with the elaboration of the FRMP in Austria by using descriptive social network analysis (SNA) and discusses the implications in terms of adaptive capacity of flood governance. The elaboration of the FRMP has had the merit of coordinating the pre-existing regional legislation into a coherent national framework, under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. A limited number of other public administration stakeholders act as brokers, but the overall governance structure appears centralized and exhibits low modularity. Such a structure, moreover, is exclusively composed of public administration actors with no de facto participation of other stakeholders (e.g., NGOs and private companies). The incorporation of a wider set of organizations in the earlier phases of the policy cycle is welcomed, in order to make the whole process less technocratic and effectively improve the overall level of adaptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions that assess multifunctionality are virtually inexistent. • There are many conceptual problems and empirical gaps in evaluation schemes for nature-based solutions. • The pathways connecting nature-based solutions and outcomes should be systematically defined and assessed. • Trade-offs between outcomes and among social groups should be identified. • Long-term evaluation of outcomes should become more common. Cities all over the world are confronting intertwined environmental, social and economic problems and aim to become resilient to climate change and promote wellbeing for all their citizens. Nature-based solutions have been proposed as a promising policy approach to addressing urban problems for the potential they have to deliver multiple benefits and foster wellbeing for individuals and communities. However, the evidence for their multiple benefits is rather scarce and highly fragmented, and more robust frameworks for the monitoring and assessment of their impacts are needed to guide urban policy-making. This paper focuses on the current state of impact assessment of nature-based solutions in Europe and through a systematic review of the literature identifies four conceptual problems and three empirical gaps that impede the accumulation of solid evidence regarding of the impacts of different types of nature-based solutions for different social groups; as well as of the contextual conditions that contribute to their performance and delivery of multiple outcomes. Based on the identified mis-conceptualizations and gaps, we derive a series of principles that should guide the development of robust impact assessment frameworks for nature-based solutions. We discuss the policy implications of these gaps and principles. We conclude by making a series of recommendations that should inform the design of impact monitoring and evaluation frameworks in cities, in order to develop the comparative evidence base on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. This, in turn, can inform urban decision-making on the appropriate design, implementation, and long-term regeneration of nature-based solutions, to ensure long-term delivery of important ecosystem services for different social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• European cities are making explicit contributions to biodiversity through nature-based solutions, using quantitative targets. • The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework should incorporate the goals of Conserve, Restore, and Thrive that cities pursue for biodiversity. • Urban NBS need to further integrate biodiversity goals, as well as restoration actions that emphasize species and genetic diversity. In this paper, we examine how cities are working with nature-based solutions for biodiversity. Drawing on a sample of 199 nature-based solutions across Europe, we identify how cities work with nature-based solutions to conserve nature, restore nature, and to find ways to thrive through harnessing nature's contribution to people. Our findings show that cities are making explicit contributions to biodiversity through nature-based solutions, and often adopt specific and quantifiable targets to guide their actions. Yet there is significant variation in the ways in which biodiversity goals and interventions are being pursued. Where biodiversity goals and actions are included in nature-based solutions, they are mainly ecosystem-based - focusing on the protection, restoration or enhancement of the integrity, functionality, and connectivity of habitats and ecosystems - with fewer focused on specific species, and very few projects concerned with genetic diversity. Although it is often assumed that urban action towards biodiversity goals will be undertaken through local planning processes, our analysis shows that European cities are taking project-based actions for biodiversity through a set of explicit, quantitative and measurable targets, which are tailored to the specific conditions of urban settings. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that if cities are to achieve ambitious goals for biodiversity over the next decade, new international frameworks being developed for the post-2020 period should include targets that acknowledge the way in which biodiversity is governed in cities and the contribution that cities make to conserve, restore and thrive with nature to guide urban action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses social constraints influencing air quality governance in four European Union (EU) countries. The comparative analysis carried out here is the outcome of the EU FP7 SEFIRA project. Starting from study of implemented measures the paper marks out the structure of double-delegation in policy-making for air quality governance; that is to say the delegation from the EU to national governments who further delegate to regional and local authorities the burden to put in place concrete measures. Therefore, our analysis has followed a multi-level approach considering all the territorial level down to the urban scale. In doing so, we found out commonalities in the strategies which have been followed by policy-makers. The comparison has been made possible through the analysis of operationalised categories such as Domain, Objectives and Modalities on air quality plans. The analysis went further: through interviews with selected key stakeholder the social constraints which may limit the choices made by institutions have been investigated. The -lack of- success in attaining EU requirements for the air quality cannot be considered only as the outcome of the −lack of- awareness of which may be the best practices or choices, rather as the result of complex entanglements of social forces. Indeed, one of the main outcomes of this explorative investigation has been the breakdown of such complexity into its social component in a comparative study. The paper finally points out the need to promote an integrated approach for air quality policy as a strategy for the design of new measures for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls to strengthen flood risk governance are echoed across Europe amidst a growing consensus that floods will increase in the future. Accompanying the pursuit of societal resilience, other normative agendas relating legitimacy (e.g. accountability and public participation), and resource efficiency, have become attached to discussions concerning flood risk governance. Whilst these represent goals against which ‘success’ is socially and politically judged, lacking from the literature is a coherent framework to operationalise these concepts and evaluate the degree to which these are achieved. Drawing from cross-disciplinary and cross-country research conducted within the EU project STAR-FLOOD, this paper presents a framework for evaluating the extent to which flood risk governance arrangements support societal resilience , and demonstrate efficiency and legitimacy . Through empirical research in England, this paper critically reflects on the value of this approach in terms of identifying entry points to strengthen governance in the pursuit of these goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• European citizens expect farmers to deliver multiple functions from their land. • The nature and magnitude of these 'societal demands' differ between Member States. • We map these demands by reviewing the EU policies on sustainable land management. • Countries with the lowest societal demands have invested most in sustainability. • The proposed Strategic Plans allow for context-specific land management practices. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has been highly successful in securing the supply of food from Europe's agricultural land. However, new expectations have emerged from society on the functions that agricultural land should deliver, including the expectations that land should regulate and purify water, should sequester carbon to contribute to the mitigation of climate change, should provide a home for biodiversity and allow for the sustainable cycling of nutrients in animal and human waste streams. Through a series of reforms of the CAP, these expectations, or 'societal demands' have translated into a myriad of EU and national level policies aimed at safeguarding the sustainability and multifunctionality of European agriculture, resulting in a highly complex regulatory environment for land managers. The current reform of the CAP aims to simultaneously simplify and strengthen policy making on environmental protection and climate action, through the development of Strategic Plans at national level, which allow for more targeted and context-specific policy formation. In this paper, we contribute to the knowledge base underpinning the development of these Strategic Plans by mapping the variation in the societal demands for soil functions across EU Member States, based on an extensive review of the existing policy environment relating to sustainable and multifunctional land management. We show that the societal demands for primary production, water regulation and purification, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and nutrient cycling vary greatly between Member States, as determined by population, farming systems and livestock densities, geo-environmental conditions and landscape configuration. Moreover, the total societal demands for multifunctionality differs between Member States, with the lowest demands found in Member States that have designated the higher shares of EU CAP funding towards 'Pillar 2′ expenditure, aimed at environmental protection and regional development. We review which lessons can be learnt from these observations, in the context of the proposals for the new CAP for the period 2021–2027, which include enhanced conditionality of direct income support for farmers and the instigation of eco-schemes in Pillar 1, in addition to Agri-Environmental and Climate Measures in Pillar 2. We conclude that the devolution of planning to Strategic Plans at national level provides an opportunity for more effective and targeted incentivisation of sustainable land management, provided that these plans take account for variations in the societal demand for soil functions, as well as the capacity of contrasting soils to deliver on this multifunctionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a collaborative programme of action between the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP) and the EC PORTOPIA research project to assist EU inland ports to enhance further their environmental performance. In order to achieve this goal, an environmental survey was specifically designed to reflect the operational and geographical circumstances of inland ports and to help to accelerate the culture of the reporting of environmental performance. The survey was developed to be user-friendly and practicable, and based on established good-practice taking into account the suggestions and advice of EFIP and its members, as well as the experience of the EcoPorts Network. As a result of the survey, an initial baseline of environmental performance for the EU inland port sector was established. A total of 27 port authorities participated in the survey, representing a range of port profiles in terms of size, commercial profile and geography. All response details were treated in strict confidence and the benchmark performance was reported as a European average. Results show that approximately 70% of the respondent ports declare that they have the major components of an Environmental Management System (EMS) actively in place (e.g. policy, inventory of legislation). An environmental index (1–10) has been calculated reflecting the performance of the sector in terms of the application of major EMS components. The average index value for the EU inland port sector baseline resulted in 6. Almost 67% of respondent ports indicated that they conduct environmental monitoring of different aspects, with waste being the most common. The survey results have also delivered the first top-10 ranking of environmental priorities for the EU inland port sector. It is interesting to note that also almost 70% of the inland ports apply initiatives to implement green actions. The outcomes of this paper are likely to be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinarity is a demanding paradigm, considered by many in the literature as the way to move forward in terms of science and policy integration. In this paper we present the example of a tailored transdisciplinary (TD) process to tackle a key topic of European policy – the future of agriculture at the regional level. This phased process was followed in seven regions across Europe and involved the co-construction of future visions, engaging both researchers and a range of relevant stakeholders. This paper presents results based on a critical reflection made by researchers and stakeholders in Portugal and Scotland, throughout the participatory process. These results provide insights into the roles and responsibilities of researchers and stakeholders in TD processes. One main conclusion is that accumulated social capital can be essential to initiate and maintain a TD process, and requires a commitment between the research community and the surrounding society. Our analysis demonstrates the challenges of implementing a TD process within the temporal frame/boundaries of a research project and the added value of having transdisciplinarity as part of the long term strategy of a research group, not just one part of a specific project. Not acknowledging this may lead to disappointment and fatigue amongst those connecting with researchers. We also found that researchers position themselves differently in a TD process depending on their soft skills, experience and knowledge about transdisciplinarity; hence we call attention to the need to work more explicitly with these skills in the research environment and to present this concept in an early stage of researcher training, if better transdisciplinarity is to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe’s climate change vulnerability pushes for initiatives such as the European Adaptation Strategy and the associated Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. What are the triggers and barriers, for which sectors and for which risks and how is adaptation funded? This paper examines 147 Local Adaptation Strategies in Europe. Key triggers were incentives via research projects, implementation of EU policies and the increasing frequency of extreme climate events. Insufficient resources, capacity, political commitment and uncertainty were the main barriers. Prioritized sectors reflected the main local vulnerabilities - flood protection and water management, built environment and urban planning. Differing patterns of adaptation planning and adaptive capacity were identified among different regions in Europe. Large municipalities generally fund adaptation locally, whereas international and national funding appears to be more important for adaptation in less urban or densely populated territories. The database of LAS described in the present study can be expanded and used to increase the understanding of and promotion of local adaptation action in Europe and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite considerable investment in river restoration projects, there is still limited information on the efficacy and success of river restoration activities. One of the main reasons is poor or improper project design, resulting in common problems such as: not addressing the root cause of habitat degradation; not establishing reference conditions, benchmarks and not defining endpoints against which to measure success; inappropriate uses of common restoration techniques because of lack of pre-planning; and inadequate monitoring or appraisal of restoration projects. In this paper peer-reviewed and grey literature and a large database of existing case studies were reviewed to identify the prevailing challenges river managers face when planning and developing river restoration projects. To overcome these current challenges an integrated project planning framework has been developed that incorporates adaptive management and project management techniques. It encapsulates key concepts and decision support tools to advance the existing sequence of project identification, project formulation, project implementation and post-project monitoring to incorporate multidisciplinary decision making to meet specific environmental and socio-economic objectives. The proposed river restoration project planning framework is adaptable and can therefore be applied to any project development scenario locally, regionally or internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A key environmental concern is pollution loads released from human activity, since excessive pollutant loads can cause significant public health and/or environmental impacts. A principal objective of environmental regulation is therefore to minimise pollutant releases. The most common approach to assessing and monitoring pollutant loads is through pollutant release databases, with such systems now operating throughout Europe, North America and Australia. This paper has compiled and analysed an extensive data set on Australian coal mining and associated pollutant emissions reported through the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI). In Australia, the coal industry has been growing rapidly over recent decades, and this is causing significant community concerns over cumulative environmental impacts. The pollutant loads and intensities from coal mining are analysed in conjunction with production data. The trends identified in this paper provide an important basis to understand the value of pollutant release and transfer registers, such as the NPI, and demonstrate the critical need to integrate such data with ongoing trends in industry and environmental management initiatives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The recent shift in flood risk management concedes that floods cannot be prevented but the impacts on and vulnerability of the risk prone communities can be reduced. Beyond mere structural defence, an integrated risk management approach deploys a diversified set of measures that moderate the economic and social drivers of risk and improve risk governance. In this context, the concept of resilience gains on importance despite the many challenges that obstruct its implementation in management practice. This paper contributes to tackling these challenges and elaborates on opportunities and bottlenecks to bring resilience into practice based on a review of the flood risk management in three case studies in Europe: Flanders (Belgium), Niedersachsen (Germany) and Calabria (Italy). The paper summarizes insights gained on three components of resilience being – institutional interplay, flood management tools and risk communication. The work that has lead to this paper is done under the FREEMAN project (flood resilience enhancement and management), funded under the 2nd CRUE ERA-Net Funding Initiative. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Groundwater in sufficient amounts and of suitable quality is essential for potable water supplies, crop irrigation and healthy habitats for plant and animal biocenoses. The groundwater resource is currently under severe pressure from land use and pollution and there is evidence of dramatic changes in aquifer resources in Europe and elsewhere, despite numerous policy measures on sustainable use and protection of groundwater. Little is known about how such changes affect groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), which include various aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems above ground and inside the aquifer. Future management must take this uncertainty into account. This paper focuses on multiple aspects of groundwater science, policy and sustainable management. Examples of current management methods and practices are presented for selected aquifers in Europe and an assessment is made of the effectiveness of existing policies such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Habitat Directive in practice and of how groundwaters and GDEs are managed in various conditions. The paper highlights a number of issues that should be considered in an integrated and holistic approach to future management of groundwater and its dependent ecosystems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Technical change at the farm level or changes in input prices often have an impact on the firm''s supply function, which in turn affect their economic and environmental performance. These changes can take place in numerous ways. This paper presents a methodology that increases the consistency of supply responses across various sets of agricultural products and most representative farm typologies in Europe, with a market model based on a statistical response function approach. Since most farm simulation models are limited to a subset of regions and farm types, the linkage to an aggregated model requires a procedure for expanding these results to non-sample regions to achieve full regional coverage. This paper addresses theoretical aspects related to the consistency between micro and market level models. The proposed approach is applied using a consistent set of simulation results from farm models in seven European regions. Our results show a fairly stable behaviour of the farm models considered for the analysis and quite good fit of the estimated response surface. As results are still preliminary we critically reflect on the applicability of this method in addressing further needs on up-scaling of other economic as well as environmental indicators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A major bottleneck for data-based policy making is that data sources are collected, managed, and distributed by different institutions, residing in different locations, resulting in conceptual and practical problems. The use of dispersed data for agricultural systems research requires the integration of data sources, which means to ensure consistency in data interpretations, units, spatial and temporal scales, to respect legal regulations of privacy, ownership and copyright, and to enable easy dissemination of data. This paper describes the SEAMLESS integrated database on European agricultural systems. It contains data on cropping patterns, production, farm structural data, soil and climate conditions, current agricultural management and policy information. To arrive at one integrated database, a shared ontology was developed according to a collaborative process, which facilitates interdisciplinary research. The paper details this process, which can be re-used in other research projects for integrating data sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Issues related to the unsustainable use of natural resources are currently high on the policy agenda both in Europe and in other world regions. A large number of studies assessed past developments of material use and resource productivities. However, little effort has so far been devoted to forecasting future patterns of natural resource use and to provide ex-ante assessments of environmental and economic effects of different resource policies. This paper presents results from the international research project “MOSUS” (Modelling opportunities and limits for restructuring Europe towards sustainability), which was designed to fill some of these research gaps. In this project, a global economy–energy model system was extended by a worldwide database on material inputs, in order to run three scenarios for European development up to the year 2020: a baseline scenario without additional policy intervention and two so-called “sustainability scenarios”, simulating the implementation of six packages of policy measures geared towards decoupling economic activity from material and energy throughput. These measures included, amongst others, taxes on CO2 emissions and transport, measures to increase metal recycling rates, and a consulting programme to raise material productivity of industrial production. This paper presents the evaluation of the three scenarios with regard to the extraction of natural resources on the European and global level. In the baseline scenario, used domestic extraction within the EU remains roughly constant until 2020, while unused domestic extraction decreases (particularly overburden from mining activities). The stabilisation of domestic extraction, however, is accompanied by growing imports of material intensive products. This indicates that the material requirements of the European economy will increasingly be met through imports from other world regions, causing shifts of environmental pressures related to material extraction and processing away from Europe towards resource-rich countries. The implementation of the six sustainability policy measures applied in the sustainability scenarios results in a slight absolute reduction of domestic extraction in all European countries and significantly increased resource productivities. The results suggest that policy instruments aimed at raising eco-efficiency on the micro level can be conducive to economic growth. To limit rebound effects on the macro level, these instruments must, however, be accompanied by other policies influencing the prices of energy and materials. With regard to global resource use trends, the baseline scenario forecasts a significant growth of resource extraction, particularly in developing countries, reflecting the growing demand for natural resources of emerging economies such as China and India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At the interface between politics and science-informed regulatory action there is hardly a more controversial combination in Europe today than the recently adopted chemicals policy overhaul entitled Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of CHemicals (REACH) and the precautionary principle (PP). The European Commission states that REACH is underpinned by the PP. However, it is not evident how this is crystallized throughout the registration, evaluation and authorization process of REACH. Additionally, it is unclear how REACH will proactively support development of safer alternatives, a key component of precaution. The present paper examines to what extent the PP has actually been integrated in REACH. Several elements of the PP are included in REACH such as changing the burden of proof and assessment of alternatives. However, a number of important elements apparently are missing. This paper outlines some of the limitations in REACH for applying precaution and discusses possible improvements of the REACH framework to make it more supportive of precautionary decision-making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers an analysis of the interactions between legal and policy science researchers within a European project on flood risk management using a “Policy Arrangement Approach” (PAA). While interdisciplinary research is increasingly becoming a ‘must’ in environmental governance, under what conditions is cooperation possible and desirable? Our analysis shows that the PAA is not mobilized as an interdisciplinary method, but offers a framework for researchers from different disciplines to learn to work together on a subject such as flooding, requiring interdisciplinary insights. The paper shows the steps that are progressively put in place to reach a common language and reformulate issues by benefitting from each other’s view and approaches. The article concludes by drawing attention to new means of knowledge production relating to so-called “messy” or “wicked” problems, such as environmental issues. Within this framework, interdisciplinary work is not considered to be a pre-condition for the study, but rather the result of the research process itself. The analysis draws attention to the actual (working) conditions established to create an interdisciplinary community of flooding practices by challenging disciplinary borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new assessment of soil loss by water erosion in Europe based on RUSLE2015 ( Panagos et al., 2015a ) was criticized in a comment by Fiener and Auerswald (2015) . The objective of the pan-European assessment was not to challenge any regional- or national-scale modelling but to develop a harmonized assessment aiming to improve our knowledge and understanding of soil erosion by water across the European Union and to accentuate the differences and similarities between different regions and countries beyond national borders and nationally adapted models. The main points of critique of Fiener and Auerswald (2015) were: (i) the ambition of this assessment to become a benchmark, ii) the absence of soil erosion community in this work, (iii) the K-factor and R-factor models (iv) the non-transparent origin of the cover management factor, (v) the lack of any validation process, and (vi) the non-comparability of this new data set to previous published data. We reply as follows: (i) We never expressed statements or opinions to set the study as a benchmark and we invite the scientific community to evaluate our study and judge if this pan-European assessment is an improvement compared to past soil erosion assessments at this scale. (ii) It is not true that the soil erosion community was not consulted and involved as many scientists have participated both in the soil erosion assessment and the analysis of erosion factors described in recent papers. (iii) The published K-factor map for Europe has been modelled with the latest state of the art soil data (LUCAS) and a robust geo-statistical model with valid simplifications which were necessary at European scale. (iv) The C-factor map for Europe has been published with a detailed description of the applied methodology which takes into account crop composition and management practices at the best available spatial resolution. (v) Modelled soil loss data was compared with the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) dataset.(vi) Our model outputs compared well both with national soil loss data in Germany and the European EIONET data. The direct comparison of predicted soil loss data with measured plot data lacks comprehension and needs solving of scaling issues related to the comparison of large-scale long-term data with small-scale plot studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion by water is one of the major threats to soils in the European Union, with a negative impact on ecosystem services, crop production, drinking water and carbon stocks. The European Commission's Soil Thematic Strategy has identified soil erosion as a relevant issue for the European Union, and has proposed an approach to monitor soil erosion. This paper presents the application of a modified version of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model (RUSLE2015) to estimate soil loss in Europe for the reference year 2010, within which the input factors (Rainfall erosivity, Soil erodibility, Cover-Management, Topography, Support practices) are modelled with the most recently available pan-European datasets. While RUSLE has been used before in Europe, RUSLE2015 improves the quality of estimation by introducing updated (2010), high-resolution (100 m), peer-reviewed input layers. The mean soil loss rate in the European Union's erosion-prone lands (agricultural, forests and semi-natural areas) was found to be 2.46 t ha −1 yr −1 , resulting in a total soil loss of 970 Mt annually. A major benefit of RUSLE2015 is that it can incorporate the effects of policy scenarios based on land-use changes and support practices. The impact of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) requirements of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the EU's guidelines for soil protection can be grouped under land management (reduced/no till, plant residues, cover crops) and support practices (contour farming, maintenance of stone walls and grass margins). The policy interventions (GAEC, Soil Thematic Strategy) over the past decade have reduced the soil loss rate by 9.5% on average in Europe, and by 20% for arable lands. Special attention is given to the 4 million ha of croplands which currently have unsustainable soil loss rates of more than 5 t ha −1 yr −1 , and to which policy measures should be targeted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying, promoting and preserving a strategically planned green infrastructure (GI) network can provide ecological, economic and social benefits. It has also become a priority for the planning and decision-making process in sectors such as conservation, (land) resource efficiency, agriculture, forestry or urban development. In this paper we propose a methodology that can be used to identify and map GI elements at landscape level based on the notions of ecological connectivity, multi-functionality of ecosystems and maximisation of benefits both for humans and for natural conservation. Our approach implies, first, the quantification and mapping of the natural capacity to deliver ecosystem services and, secondly, the identification of core habitats and wildlife corridors for biota. All this information is integrated and finally classified in a two-level GI network. The methodology is replicable and flexible (it can be tailored to the objectives and priorities of the practitioners); and it can be used at different spatial scales for research, planning or policy implementation. The method is applied in a continental scale analysis covering the EU-27 territory, taking into account the delivery of eight regulating and maintenance ecosystem services and the requirements of large mammals’ populations. The best performing areas for ecosystem services and/or natural habitat provision cover 23% of Europe and are classified as the core GI network. Another 16% of the study area with relatively good ecological performance is classified as the subsidiary GI network. There are large differences in the coverage of the GI network among countries ranging from 73% of the territory in Estonia to 6% in Cyprus. A potential application of these results is the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, assuming that the core GI network might be crucial to maintain biodiversity and natural capital and, thus, should be conserved; while the subsidiary network could be restored to increase both the ecological and social resilience. This kind of GI analysis could be also included in the negotiations of the European Regional Development Funds or the Rural Development Programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability and accessibility of natural resources are fundamental for human well-being and the functioning of global economies. International policies have been developed with the aim to ensure resource efficiency and to respond to environmental and socio-economic concerns towards the sustainable management of natural resources. In fact, building effective resource policies requires solid methodologies and indicators for monitoring resource extraction and consumption by the economies as well as all its related environmental impacts. The present study focuses on the European context, assessing current methodologies for resources analysis towards identifying their strengths and weaknesses in supporting policies. The study analyses trends in material resource extraction within Europe and imports over the past 10 years. Three approaches are compared: (i) “mass”-based accounting (i.e. material flow analysis); (ii) “impact assessment”-based, founded on the life cycle assessment methodology, and (iii) “resource criticality”-based, building on assessment of critical raw materials for EU economy. The paper shows through some examples that this methodological choice has relevant repercussions in terms of resource prioritization. Hence, the choice of the accounting methodology and the setting of targets should be guided by the policy objective(s) (i.e. dematerialization, environmental impact reduction and security of resource supply), possibly complementing the different insights coming from the three approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To counteract the negative effects of intensive agriculture there is increasing interest in approaches that reconcile agricultural production with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Integration of functional agrobiodiversity (FAB) in agricultural systems holds promise to meet these challenging objectives, but requires the generation, transfer and implementation of tailor-made knowledge, and policy development. Currently various initiatives are undertaken across Europe to develop and assess the potential of biodiversity-based management practices by farmers, industry, researchers and governmental and non-governmental organizations. In this paper we show that the Convention on Biological Diversity and planned reforms in EU policy offer scope to further implement FAB concepts via legislation for biodiversity conservation, pesticide use, water quality, environmental protection and conservation of genetic resources. At the same time we observe that there are still impediments to the adoption of FAB approaches, including (i) translation of general knowledge to tailored, ready-to-use management practices, (ii) limited information on the effectiveness of FAB measures in terms of crop yield and quality, profitability, and reduction of agrochemical inputs, (iii) lack of appropriate financial accounting systems that allow fair accounting of the private investments and public benefits, and (iv) the implementation of FAB measures at the right spatial scales, which requires coordination among the various actors in a region. Current and new legislation may provide incentives to address these limitations and contribute to the further development and integration of FAB concepts in agricultural systems in Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A key element of the European Water Framework Directive is the role that economic tools and principles have been assigned in achieving its objectives. This has raised important research and implementation questions that have set the water agenda in Europe in the last ten years and will continue to do so. This paper examines these key questions and reviews the progress that has been made in addressing them. Key research-policy challenges ahead are identified. These include addressing “wicked” problems, such as the operationalisation of the ecosystem service approach; challenging assumed principles for cost-effectiveness and disproportionality; and effectively co-constructing knowledge with stakeholders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Preparedness towards natural hazards is a key factor in the reduction of their impact on the society. Recent international initiatives are fostering the development of a culture of risk prevention and the promotion of early warning systems. Numerical weather predictions have become the basis of several flood-related warning systems, enabling the detection of hazardous events with sufficient lead-time to prepare effective emergency and response plans. The objective of this paper is to review current European operational warning systems for water-related hazards induced by severe weather conditions. In details, it includes systems for detecting surface water flooding, flash floods, debris flows, mud flows, rainfall-induced landslides, river floods and coastal floods. Technical features and capabilities of different systems are described, together with some noteworthy examples. The main strengths of each system type are highlighted and suggestions are provided for developing and further improving their overall skills in hazard detection and the mutual coordination. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes the MICORE approach to quantify for nine field sites the crucial storm related physical hazards (hydrodynamic as well as morphodynamic) in support of early warning efforts and emergency response. As a first step historical storms that had a significant morphological impact on a representative number of sensitive European coastal stretches were reviewed and analysed in order to understand storm related morphological changes and how often they occur around Europe. Next, an on-line storm prediction system was set up to enable prediction of storm related hydro- and morphodynamic impacts. The system makes use of existing off-the-shelf models as well as a new open-source morphological model. To validate the models at least one year of fieldwork was done at nine pilot sites. The data was safeguarded and stored for future use in an open database that conforms to the OpenEarth protocols. To translate quantitative model results to useful information for Civil Protection agencies the Frame of Reference approach () was used to derive Storm Impact Indicators (SIIs) for relevant decision makers. The acquired knowledge is expected to be directly transferred to the civil society trough partnerships with end-users at the end of the MICORE project. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the context of urban flood management, resilience is equal to resisting, recovering, reflecting and responding. The variety of causes of flooding and their consequences underpin the need for increased and internationally coordinated efforts to enhance technologies and policies for dealing with floods. This paper addresses this issue and presents some novel research ideas related to resilience to flooding in urban areas, which are under development within the EU FP7 project ‘Collaborative research on flood resilience in urban areas’ (CORFU). The approach adopted in this project aims to quantify the cost-effectiveness of resilience measures and integrative and adaptable flood management plans for different scenarios of relevant drivers: urban development, socio-economic trends and climate changes. It is believed that the way in which the different models are being put together, combined with the variability of conditions in case study areas in Asia and in Europe, will ultimately enable more scientifically sound policies for the management of the consequences of urban flooding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The management of flash flood hazards and risks is a critical component of public safety and quality of life. Flash-floods develop at space and time scales that conventional observation systems are not able to monitor for rainfall and river discharge. Consequently, the atmospheric and hydrological generating mechanisms of flash-floods are poorly understood, leading to highly uncertain forecasts of these events. The objective of the HYDRATE project has been to improve the scientific basis of flash flood forecasting by advancing and harmonising a European-wide innovative flash flood observation strategy and developing a coherent set of technologies and tools for effective early warning systems. To this end, the project included actions on the organization of the existing flash flood data patrimony across Europe. The final aim of HYDRATE was to enhance the capability of flash flood forecasting in ungauged basins by exploiting the extended availability of flash flood data and the improved process understanding. This paper provides a review of the work conducted in HYDRATE with a special emphasis on how this body of research can contribute to guide the policy-life cycle concerning flash flood risk management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the last two decades we witnessed a progressive shift in the approach towards the reduction of the impact of natural hazards. From a general reactive approach, focusing on strengthening disaster response mechanisms, we have moved to proactive approaches. There has been recognition that each element of society, from public institutions to private sector, from community-based organizations to every single individual, can make a difference by acting before disasters strike to reduce the associated risks of human and economic losses. This proactive approach can be summarized in three words: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Today, DRR is an approach used in several sectors and research areas. In the Development sphere, DRR is considered a key feature for sustainability of economic and development gains – especially for developing countries. Significantly, the is titled “Risk and poverty in a changing climate” highlighting the importance of DRR in reducing poverty while being a means to address the challenges posed by adaptation to climate change. This paper, which serves as an introduction to the special issue of Environment Science & Policy on climate change impact on water-related disasters, intends to provide readers with an overview of the main policy frameworks addressing DRR internationally and in Europe. Further, it aims to offer some “food for thought” on the underlying opportunities we have to enhance the resilience of our communities towards the risks posed by weather-related hazards. It stresses the importance of governance of risks, which starts from an effective dialogue between the scientific community and the policy makers: those who have the responsibility to decide on the most cost-effective interventions to address climate change adaptation and risk reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle, e.g. leading to changes of precipitation patterns, have been observed over several decades. Higher water temperatures and changes in extremes hydrometeorological events (including floods and droughts) are likely to exacerbate different types of pressures on water resources with possible negative impacts on ecosystems and human health. In addition, sea-level rise is expected to extend areas of salinisation of groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease of freshwater availability for humans and ecosystems in coastal areas. Furthermore, climate-related changes in water quantity and quality are expected to affect food availability, water access and utilisation, especially in arid and semi-arid areas, as well as the operation of water infrastructure (e.g. hydropower, flood defences, and irrigation systems). This paper serves as an introduction to the special issue of Environment Science & Policy dealing with climate change impacts on water-related disasters. It provides a brief background about relevant EU water policies and examples of EU-funded research trends which illustrate on-going efforts to improve understanding and modelling of climate changes related to the hydrological cycles at scales that are relevant to decision making (possibly linked to policy). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The definition of coastal waters in relation to the European Union (EU) environmental legislation was clearly stated in the Water Framework Directive. In compliance with this Directive, most of the EU Member States have delineated their coastal waters’ boundaries. However, these delineations are not as complete and homogeneous as could be expected. Hence, there is a need for a comprehensive and unambiguous delimitation of European coastal waters. This paper aims at bridging this gap, providing a pan-European mapping of coastal waters, covering 553,817km2 in 30 seaside countries, 340,524km2 of which pertain to the 22 EU Member States connected to the sea. For this purpose, a comprehensive geographical analysis of the national baselines and transitional waters distribution was performed. A pan-European baseline of 63,340km was delineated, together with the coastal waters delimitation (the final GIS layers are provided as supplementary material of this article). The results show significant differences between the available national declarations of coastal waters and the areas identified in this work (almost 12% of the compared area), the former defining an additional 29,337km2 of coastal waters with respect to the latter. The largest deviations seem to be due either to misinterpretations of the definition of coastal waters, or to one-sided national modifications. A clear identification of European coastal water boundaries is crucial for the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive implementations, which depend on an accurate ecological/environmental assessment of those waters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change induces various direct and indirect impacts. Among the direct effects are the likely rise in the frequency of heat waves and droughts in Europe. These immediate effects of climate change, in turn, cause downstream effects. Drought-induced water scarcity and lack in water supply affect further sectors and critical infrastructures. A lack in water supply for cooling purposes, for example, will negatively affect the electricity generation in power plants. In this paper we analyze the consequences of climate-change related impacts on such interplays between climate-change affected sectors. More specifically, we investigate how electricity exchanges between countries in Europe are affected and threatened by climate change because of the higher risk of water supply shortages due to more frequent drought and heat-wave incidences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years, climate change has become an increasing concern for scientists, public opinions and policy makers. Due to the pervasive nature of its impacts for many important aspects of human life, climate change is likely to influence and be influenced by the most diverse policy or management choices. This is particularly true for those interventions affecting agriculture and forestry: they are strongly dependent on climate phenomena, but also contribute to climate evolution being sources of and sinks for greenhouse gases (GHG). This paper offers a survey of the existing literature assessing cost-effectiveness and efficiency of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies or the effects of broader economic reforms in the agricultural and forestry sectors. The focus is mainly on European countries. Different methodological approaches, research questions addressed and results are examined. The main findings are that agriculture can potentially provide emissions reduction at a competitive cost, mainly with methane abatement, while carbon sequestration seems more cost-effective with appropriate forest management measures. Afforestation, cropland management and bioenergy are less economically viable measures due to competition with other land use. Mitigation policies should be carefully designed either to balance costs with expected benefits in terms of social welfare. Regional variability is one of the main drawbacks to fully assess the cost-effectiveness of different measures. Integration of models to take into account both social welfare and spatial heterogeneity seems to be the frontier of the next model generation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the implementation of water policies, such as the European water framework directive (WFD), good interaction between policy development and implementation, and the science is of crucial importance. This requires new knowledge and insights to be taken into account in the policy design and development. It also requires the results of Research and Technology Development (RTD) projects, including ICT decision supporting instruments such as tools and models, to be transferred towards policy implementation. These science–policy interrelationships are, however, at this moment not as efficient as it should/could be. This is due to limited operational links with water managers in many water-related RTD projects, such that the needs of policy makers are not taken into account at a sufficient level. Due to this and other reasons, newly developed tools from the research community most often insufficiently transfer to operational use by water managers. Better research integration consequently is required at the various stages of policy developments (identification, design, implementation and review). Within the framework of the Harmoni-CA project for the European Commission, the development of a science–policy interfacing instrument is initiated in order to meet the above-mentioned science–policy gap problems [Quevauviller, Ph., Balabanis, P., Fragakis, C., Weydert, M., Oliver, M., Kaschl, A., Arnold, G., Kroll, A., Galbiati, L., Zaldivar, J.M., Bidoglio, G., 2005. Science–policy integration needs in support of the implementation of the EU water framework directive. Env. Sci. Policy 8 (3), 203–211; Arnold G.E., de Lange, W.J., Blind, M.W., 2005. The Conserted Action Harmoni-CA facilitating the dialogue and bridging the gap between research and WFD implementation. Env. Sci. Policy 8 (3), 213–218]. This paper describes a concept developed by the authors, on how the science–policy interfacing technically can be supported through the bi-directional linking of various types of information sources identified as potential means for enhancing the interfacing mechanism. The information sources identified are policy implementation tasks (at the policy side), and ICT tools, methodologies and guidances (as results of RTD projects). Experiences on the application of RTD results in policy implementation tasks are one of the glue elements between these information sources in combination with activity-related and contextual keywords. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Scenarios with either 3% or 5% of the productive forest stock in Western Europe set-aside for conservation are compared to a baseline case. The latter case is further compared to cases where the whole of Europe and North America join the 5% conservation program. The scenarios are created by employing a global forest sector model, EFI-GTM. The aggregate conservation impacts seem relatively low, mainly because international trade counterbalances regional shortages and because roundwood harvests are well below the annual forest growth in many European countries. Conservation increases the forest owners’ wood sales income. The 5% set-aside raises roundwood prices in Western Europe by 4% and decreases harvests by 3% from the base case levels during 2010–2020. The production of pulp and mechanical forest products then decrease by 1.4 and 1.7%, respectively. The paper market is affected least. The leakage impact of forest protection is most pronounced in Russian roundwood harvests. Simultaneous conservation in the whole of Europe raises the roundwood costs of the Western European forest industry, but it does not prevent the leakage of roundwood harvests to Russia. Conservation in North America has a low impact on the European roundwood market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: One need of the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) as applied to groundwater is to have a clear understanding of the groundwater background quality reference, or baseline, in order for it to be compared to the current situation. As a scientific approach to this issue, the research project “BaSeLiNe” has been carried out by institutions from 12 European countries. Among the different work packages, an applied element was included in the project to involve groundwater managers, end-users and regulators as stakeholders in the groundwater baseline quality issue. This was done through a questionnaire which was distributed to selected high-level people from each participating country. The main subject of this paper is the results obtained from the 69 questionnaires retrieved and the related discussions originating from them. Most answers refer to water supply issues, but not exclusively. It comes out that groundwater in many cases is the main or the only available water source for human and agricultural supply. Generally, it is of good quality, although a progressive deterioration and the excessive content of some components is becoming noticeable. Groundwater protection is a long-term key issue which needs regulation, management and planning, and should be a subject of public information. However, at high management and policy-making levels often just a small sensitive awareness to the use of groundwater and its protection has been recognized. Groundwater quality improvements are expected from a combination of factors that mainly include changes in land use and better farming practices. The costs involved must be supported by users, but they are often not very prone to pay for quality improvements, and therefore ask for subsidies. The effective participation of river basin districts, groundwater user associations and stakeholders in groundwater management is considered to be positive, although experience is lacking and there may be some drawbacks if there are no adequate institutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines to what extent climate change policies will alter the effectiveness of agreed-upon or future policies to reduce regional air pollution in Europe and vice versa. And when is it cost-effective to combat regional air pollution with clean technology instead of add-on technology?For this exercise, several extensions were made to the energy model TIMER, to introduce add-on abatement technologies, specified in terms of costs and reduction potentials, in order to be able to calculate cost-effective emission reduction strategies for different scenarios and regions.The results show that add-on technologies to reduce regional air pollution remain necessary throughout the century. The costs to reach the NOx emission reduction targets in Europe are about three times as high as for SO2. Mitigation costs averaged over the century by add-on technologies can be reduced by climate measures by 50–70% for SO2 and around 50% for NOx. The costs of SO2 and NOx mitigation by add-on technology in a world without climate policy are comparable or in some periods even higher than the costs of an integrated mitigation of SO2, NOx and CO2 emissions if a reduction of specific costs by learning is, in contrast with energy technologies, not assumed for abatement technologies. So, the costs of SO2 and NOx add-on measures avoided by climate policies can outweigh the costs of these climate measures. The total annual costs are in the order of 1 or 2% of the present GDP, depending on the scenario. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a new methodology called the “critical climate change” approach for evaluating policies for reducing climate change impacts on natural ecosystems. This method is particularly suited for integrated assessments because of its long-term and large-scale perspective. This is an analogous approach to the “critical loads” concept used for assessing regional air pollution impacts in Europe. Critical climate change is defined as the “quantitative magnitude of climate change (expressed as changes in temperature and precipitation) above which unacceptable long-term effects on ecosystems may occur, according to current knowledge”. The approach consists of four main steps: (1) Selection of appropriate indicators of climate change impact. Here we select changes in net primary productivity of ecosystems. (2) Assigning to the selected indicator a level of “unacceptable impact” of climate change. Here we assume this level to be at least a 10% loss in the net primary productivity of natural ecosystems, after considering other thresholds and the historical variation in ecosystem productivity. (3) Determining the response of the indicator to one or more climate-related driving force. This includes identifying the combinations of driving forces that produce the assigned unacceptable impact. (4) Computing the area where critical climate changes exceeded under climate change scenarios. An analysis of climate scenarios show that critical climate changes may be exceeded on 9–13% of Europe’s area by 2100, depending on the scenario. The areas where critical climate changes are exceeded are located mostly in southern Europe, even under relatively low emission scenarios. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes the results of combining several simple models to assess the changes in plant sensitivity to direct effects of gaseous air pollutants that result from changes in climatic conditions. This research has been carried out within the framework of a project on the integrated assessment of regional air pollution and climate change in Europe (AIR-CLIM). The modulation of plant sensitivity to gaseous pollutants has been studied using a model of stomatal conductance that simulates the flow of water vapor from the atmosphere to the plant interior through the stomata. The model has been applied to Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). The critical atmospheric concentration levels for SO2 and NOx adopted in international environmental norms have been modified to maintain in different climate scenarios a concentration level inside the plant equivalent to the critical limit in 1990. These simulated critical concentrations are compared with the predicted atmospheric concentrations. Our work indicates that the response can be very different for the two types of forests and in different regions. In general, climate change sensitivity increases in boreal areas and decreases in temperate areas due to temperature and water stress. If the air pollution levels are in the predicted ranges, the problems are less severe now than in 1990, but the cumulative stress will still be significant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As part of a project on the integrated assessment of regional air pollution and climate change in Europe (AIR-CLIM) this paper reports the impacts of climate change on the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to the deposition of sulfur and nitrogen. This sensitivity is characterized by critical loads of acidity and nutrient nitrogen, which have been widely used for setting emission reduction targets in Europe. Using a consistent database on European soils and forests, it is shown that higher temperatures, changed precipitation patterns and modified net primary production (NPP) generally increase critical loads, although decreases are observed in mountainous and arid regions. Comparing critical loads with the deposition of sulfur and nitrogen, it is shown that the exceedances of the critical loads are declining under all eight scenarios developed within AIR-CLIM, although exceedances of critical loads of nutrient nitrogen remain substantial, even under the most stringent scenario. A sensitivity study of some key parameters corroborates the conclusion that research should focus on the effects of nitrogen in the environment, especially under conditions of climate change, whereas policies should concentrate on further reductions of nitrogen emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents results of an assessment of the linkages between regional air pollution and climate change in Europe (the AIR-CLIM Project). The main research tool was an integrated modeling framework and the main product was a consistent set of long-term scenarios covering Europe between 1995 and 2100. Scenarios consisted of trends in emissions, acid deposition, nitrogen deposition and climate change. Critical loads and critical levels were used to assess the impacts of deposition to forest soils and a new analogous concept of “critical climate change” was developed to assess the impacts of climate change. Taking into consideration the limitations of the scope and models used in the study, preliminary conclusions were: (1) regional air pollution and climate change may be fairly weakly coupled in the natural environment, i.e. climate change was not found to have a large impact on the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to regional air pollution, nor on the distribution of deposition; nor did regional air pollution (in the form of sulfate aerosols) have a significant impact on climate change in Europe; (2) however, regional air pollution and climate change may be strongly coupled in the “policy” environment. It was estimated that virtually all of Europe at mid-century might be affected by either regional air pollution or climate change, or both, and this will require a strong policy response. Moreover, the indirect effects of climate policies were found to reduce the costs of controlling air pollution emissions by more than 50%, suggesting a strong potential financial linkage between policies to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]