European lawmakers issued a stark warning about the region’s growing water crisis ahead of another extreme summer, saying there is a pressing need to tackle issues such as scarcity, food security and pollution.
The Water Crisis in Europe, forced parliament lawmakers to call for increased action to preserve and improve water resources, already affected by several years of depleting groundwater levels as the climate crisis continues to intensify.
Record-breaking temperatures through spring and a historic winter heatwave have taken a visible toll on the region’s rivers and ski slopes, while protests have broken out over water shortages in both France and Spain.
Copernicus satellite imagery acts as a sad confirmation that many parts of the union face intense difficulty, EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said during her opening remarks.
Some regions are suffering from water scarcity due to the droughts, while others are suffering from floods. Most are suffering from the consequences of water pollution but none of this is new.
The European Union’s environment agency, in a report published Wednesday, described the overall outlook as pessimistic.
It added that while the 27 EU states and European Economic Area members had national adaption policies in place, all of them could do much more to limit the negative effects of extreme weather this summer.
Some of the suggested measures included cities increasing the number of trees and water spaces — which can lower temperatures and reduce the risk of flooding — and farmers adapting crop varieties and changing sowing dates.
For now, Europe is being affected by drought, rivers are drying up, and agriculture is under pressure, nature is suffering. This is a war. A war for water, just like in Israel that confiscated the Golan Heights and West Bank for total control of the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee.
We must do everything in our power to try and put a stop to the fallout of climate change and indeed to counter it. But it is key, too, for us to understand how to manage the global drinking water.
Satellite data analyzed by researchers from Austria’s University of Graz at the start of the year found that drought was impacting Europe on a much larger scale than researchers had previously expected.
The study was published after EU researchers found that Europe experienced its hottest summer ever last year, with the intense drought thought to be the worst the region had seen in at least 500 years.
Summer after summer, Europe is suffering from a scarcity of water — and it just seems to get worse. This summer may be the worst of all. Spanish water resources were currently at less than 50% of their capacity.
The combination of a lack of rain and extreme temperatures is endangering our food security and the economic survival of millions of farmers.
Farming was one of the sectors likely to be hardest hit by diminishing water resources, making it more difficult to produce food. Our food security depends on the way we manage our water resources!
CNBC / ABC Flash Point Agricultural Weather News 2023.
European water, agricultural and humanitarian wars?