1. Outcomes of the International Conference on Water Scarcity and Drought: “the path to climate change adaptation”

2. Overview of the Conference
Madrid, February 18th and 19th
Around 300 participants
17 nationalities
Issues tackled:
Climate change
WS&D management
Agriculture
Impacts (social, economic and environmental)
WFD
Innovations and technologies
Worldwide solutions

3. Conclusions
Water scarcity and drought  Severe problems in many regions in Europe and not limited to specific areas
 Frequently in densely populated areas
Climate change
Magnify regional differences
The White Paper on climate change establish a framework to reduce vulnerability
Fresh availability is likely to decrease  One of the biggest challenges to achieving the objective of good status of water bodies
Environmental, social and economic impacts are inevitable  Mitigation
Transboundary waters  Risks, challenges and solutions shall be shared
Regional sustainable development  Essential to deal with water scarcity and drought
 Integration of sectorial policies
Common Agriculture Policy  Opportunity to promote more efficient and sustainable water use
Drought Management Plans  In complete harmonisation with the RBMP, are essential to guarantee the adequate and sustainable water management

4. Draft conclusions to the Council
Presidency proposal on draft Council conclusion on water scarcity, drought and adaptation to climate change
Discussed on Working Party on the Environment on 29 April and 18 May
Next discussion in the COREPER on 2 June
Expected approval in the Council on 11 June

5. Relevant aspects of the draft conclusions to the Council
Blue-print for Europe’s Water  2012
Based on:
The review of the strategy on water scarcity and droughts
The WFD implementation report
EU climate change adaptation framework
Invitation to the European Commission to consider the right mix of measures and financial instruments needed to tackle water scarcity and/or drought events and to present relevant proposals if appropriate

6. Outcomes of the European Groundwater Conference6

7. BACKGROUND AND PARTICIPANTS OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE
Organized under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the EU, on May 2010 in Madrid, back to back with the 18th WG C plenary meeting.
The programme of the conference consisted of three sessions with oral communications and poster sessions on the following topics:
Session 1  - Groundwater good status compliance
Session 2  - Groundwater environmental objectives
Session 3 - Contribution of science to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Groundwater Directive
OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE
Provide a forum to present the main elements that will drive the protection and sustainable management of groundwater resources in Europe until 2015.
Fostering one of the main tasks identified by WG C for the period : the exchange of best practices and recommendations resulting from the experiences gained by Member States and the European Commission during the implementation of the WFD and the GWD.
Promote an effective transfer of scientific results to policy-makers.

8. RESULTS THE CONFERENCE
The conference was attended by 225 experts from 25 European countries.
These experts, coming from administrative bodies (governmental and local authorities), stakeholder representatives and scientific community, participated actively in the debates and on the poster sessions organized.
A total of 12 oral communications and 41 posters were presented during the conference, dealing with specific issues included in the topics of the three sessions of the conference.
The abstracts of the oral communications and posters presented during the conference are included in the proceedings of the conference, that were available during the conference.
Additional information on the Madrid 2010 European Groundwater Conference can be found on:

9. Thank you for your attention!