AUTHORS: Andrew Farmer

Water scarcity is a major threat to the ecology of many of Europe’s waters and the societies and economies that depend upon those waters. Water scarcity has also risen sharply up the EU policy agenda and will form a core focus for the Commission’s ‘Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources’ in 2012. These briefings produced under the Knossos FP7 project set out key findings from research funded by the EU’s Research Framework Programme related to water scarcity which can assist Parliamentarians in identifying important policy conclusions and so contribute to this debate.

The main briefing summaries the results of DG Research projects in understanding the scope of water scarcity in Europe, how this will alter with climate change and the threats this poses to different sectors. The first accompanying briefing summarizes EU policy relating to water scarcity and the second accompanying briefing examines how the issue is addressed in the context of the Environment for Europe process.