Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-236"
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"en.20081008.24.3-236"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, water scarcity and drought represent a major global problem and it is clear that climate change will aggravate the situation and result in serious water scarcity. This trend was confirmed by another report on the impact of climate change in Europe, prepared by the European Environment Agency last week.
The frequency and intensity of droughts in the European Union have dramatically increased over the past 30 years, and over 100 million people and almost one third of the EU were affected in 2003. Since the Commission presented its communication on water scarcity and droughts, we have seen further evidence of this trend. Cyprus is experiencing its worst drought since 1900. Water supplies for irrigation purposes were suspended during the summer and farmers suffered 80% crop losses as a result. In some areas cereal crops were completely destroyed. The estimated losses exceed 1.5% of Cyprus’s GDP. Nor was this an isolated occurrence: 2008 is the third consecutive drought year in Cyprus.
This is therefore the right time for Parliament to debate its report on water scarcity and droughts. I am glad that the European Parliament has taken this opportunity to send out a clear message that it is important to tackle this problem.
Global warming, population growth and increasing
consumption all mean that the pressure on our water resources is rising. As a consequence, water scarcity or droughts are becoming increasingly likely, and they have a direct effect on the population and on those economic sectors that depend on water supply, for example agriculture, tourism, industry, power supply and transport. They also have negative side effects for biodiversity and water quality. The risks of forest fires and the consumption of land are increasing. Unless urgent measures are taken, entire regions will face the risk of desertification, both within and outside the European Union.
In order to prevent this, our top priority must be a shift towards practices that will lead to effective water use and water savings. At the same time, measures aimed at water saving will be adopted at all levels. In order to achieve this, the entire population will have to play a role; the adoption of government measures will not on its own be enough.
The latest Eurobarometer poll, asking the public about their attitude towards climate change, indicates that 62% of Europeans consider climate change/global warming to be among the two most serious problems facing the world today, while 68% of Europeans feel that ‘poverty, the lack of food and drinking water’ is the most serious problem. In this context the good news is that the fears expressed by the members of the public are also reflected in their behaviour: 61% of Europeans declare that they have personally taken actions aimed at tackling climate change and more than half have reduced their consumption of water at home.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to note that your report welcomes the Commission communication and supports the proposed first set of policy options for action. I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Seeber, for his excellent work on this report, as well as Mrs Herranz García and Mrs García Pérez from the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Regional Development for their positive and constructive contributions. There is broad agreement between the report and the conclusions adopted by the Council last year regarding the measures to be taken. The task now is to turn this political support into real actions."@en1
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