What is the deal with the Green Deal: Will the new strategy help to improve European freshwater quality beyond the Water Framework Directive?

被引：42
作者：
Bieroza M.Z. [1 ]
Bol R. [2 ,3 ]
Glendell M. [4 ]
机构：
[1] Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala
[2] Forschungszentrum Jülich IBG-3, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, Jülich
[3] School of Natural Sciences, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor University, Bangor
[4] The James Hutton Institute, Environmental and Biochemical Sciences Group, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, Scotland
来源：
Science of the Total Environment | 2021年 / 791卷
关键词：
Common agricultural policy; Diffuse pollution; Nutrient losses; Sustainable development goals;
D O I：
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148080
中图分类号：
学科分类号：
摘要：
Agricultural land use covers almost half of the EU territory and reducing nutrient and pesticide losses to freshwaters is central to existing EU policy. However, the progress of improving freshwater quality and reducing eutrophication is slow and lags behind targets. The Green Deal is a key element of the EU plans to implement the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we discuss the opportunities that the Green Deal and associated strategies may provide for the achievement of the water quality goals of the Water Framework Directive in agricultural landscapes. We welcome Green Deal's aspirational stated goals. However, the reliance of mitigation of diffuse agricultural pollution on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy represents grave risks for practical implementation and the achievement of the Green Deal objectives. We also argue that the new strategies should be targeted at tackling and understanding the sources of water quality problems along the full pollution continuum. To maximise the opportunities for tackling diffuse pollution from agricultural land use and achieving the delayed water quality targets, we stress that a range of targeted new instruments will be needed to close the gaps in the pollution continuum ‘from source to impact’. These gaps include: (I) smart and standardised monitoring of the impacts of proposed eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate measures, (ii) active restoration of agricultural streams and ditches and their floodplains to reduce secondary pollution sources, (iii) options to draw down nutrient levels to or below the agronomic optimum that reduce legacy sources, (iv) integrating farm-scale and catchment-scale analysis of trade-offs in reducing different pollutants and their combined effects, and finally (v) accounting for emerging pressures to freshwater quality due to climate change. Incorporation of the pollution continuum framework into tackling diffuse agricultural pollution will ensure that the European water-related policy goals are achieved. © 2021
引用
收藏
相关论文
共 59 条
[1]  
Abbott B.W., Gruau G., Zarnetske J.P., Moatar F., Barbe L., Thomas Z., Et al., Unexpected spatial stability of water chemistry in headwater stream networks, Ecol. Lett., 21, pp. 296-308, (2018)
[2]  
Bieroza M.Z., Heathwaite A.L., Bechmann M., Kyllmar K., Jordan P., The concentration-discharge slope as a tool for water quality management, Sci. Total Environ., 630, pp. 738-749, (2018)
[3]  
Bieroza M., Bergstrom L., Ulen B., Djodjic F., Tonderski K., Heeb A., Et al., Hydrologic extremes and legacy sources can override efforts to mitigate nutrient and sediment losses at the catchment scale, J. Environ. Qual., 48, (2019)
[4]  
Bieroza M., Dupas R., Glendell M., McGrath G., Mellander P.-E., Hydrological and chemical controls on nutrient and contaminant loss to water in agricultural landscapes, Water, 12, (2020)
[5]  
Birk S., Chapman D., Carvalho L., Spears B.M., Andersen H.E., Argillier C., Et al., Impacts of multiple stressors on freshwater biota across spatial scales and ecosystems, Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2020)
[6]  
Boezeman D., Wiering M., Crabbe A., Agricultural diffuse pollution and the EU Water Framework Directive: problems and progress in governance, Water, 12, (2020)
[7]  
Bol R., Gruau G., Mellander P., Dupas R., Bechmann M., Skarbovik E., Et al., Challenges of reducing phosphorus based water eutrophication in the agricultural landscapes of Northwest Europe, Front. Mar. Sci., 5, pp. 1-16, (2018)
[8]  
Carvalho L., Mackay E.B., Cardoso A.C., Baattrup-Pedersen A., Birk S., Blackstock K.L., Et al., Protecting and restoring Europe's waters: an analysis of the future development needs of the Water Framework Directive, Sci. Total Environ., 658, pp. 1228-1238, (2019)
[9]  
Charlton M.B., Bowes M.J., Hutchins M.G., Orr H.G., Soley R., Davison P., Mapping eutrophication risk from climate change: future phosphorus concentrations in English rivers, Sci. Total Environ., 613-614, pp. 1510-1526, (2018)
[10]  
Creed I.F., McKnight D.M., Pellerin B.A., Green M.B., Bergamaschi B.A., Aiken G.R., Et al., The river as a chemostat: fresh perspectives on dissolved organic matter flowing down the river continuum, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 72, pp. 1272-1285, (2015)
123456