EU Conference on Application of EU Water-related Policies at Farm Level

The Belgian Presidency, on an initiative of Mr Philippe HENRY, Walloon Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Sustainable Transport, is pleased to invite you to a Conference on the Application of EU Water-related Policies at Farm Level.

The conference, co-organised by the Water Director for Belgium-Wallonia and the Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission, will take place on 28 and 29 September 2010 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). The conference is part of the work carried out by the CIS Expert Group on Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Agriculture (jointly chaired by the EU Commission, UK DEFRA and FR Water Directorate) focussing on the linkages between the WFD and agriculture.

The event is the sixth conference in a series of conferences directed towards stakeholders and policy-makers from the agricultural and water sectors in EU-27 Member States. The European agricultural sector, just like any other European economical sector, has to adapt in line with EU water-related policies included in the Water Framework Directive (WFD), requiring the good status of all waters in the interests of European citizens. Taking the appropriate measures will be central to achieving these objectives. The measures addressing water quality, water quantity or cross-cutting issues are now identified and implemented at different stages. Their proper control is playing a crucial role in obtaining good water status. Therefore, it is important to discuss this point now.

One specific workshop session will deal with “non-authorized water usage in agriculture” as included in the EU agricultural cross-compliance regulation, and identify policy and management tools to identify and control non-authorised water usage. Mr. Javier Serrano (Andalusian Water Authority, Spain), Mr. Enrique Calleja (Upper Guadiana Consortium, Spain) and Ms. Kerstin Uhlig (Globalgap Secretariat, Germany) will expose their current initiatives and experience regarding this very complex challenge.