Science for Environment Policy
EcoPolis
Facing Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources
The latest assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
projects that average global temperatures in 2100 will be between 1.8-
4.0 °C higher than the 1980-2000 average (best estimate, likely range
1.1-6.4 °C). Consequently, s ea levels are projected to rise 0.18-0.59
m by 2100 (based on observed rates of ice flow from Greenland and
Antarctica). More frequent and intense extreme weather events
(including drought and flooding) are also expected. The need to
mitigate climate change and prevent dangerous impacts has resulted in
a strong policy focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. Nevertheless, even if emissions of greenhouse gases were
stabilised today, increased temperatures and their associated impacts,
including changes in water availability and flooding, will continue
for many decades to come.
A report recently published by the European Environment Agency has
addressed climate change and water adaptation issues. The researchers
first reviewed the observed and projected changes in water resources
driven by climatic conditions. Then, using a policy analysis at
European level, and a survey, the report evaluates the implications of
the need to adapt to climate change for water resource policy and
regulation across Europe, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of
current policies and regulations, and describes progress and
activities in European countries.
According to the report, climate change can affect the quantitative
and qualitative status of water resources by altering hydrological
cycles and systems, which in turn, can affect the intensity and
frequency of floods and droughts, water availability and demand, and
water quality, including temperature and nutrient content.
Changes in the hydrological, biological and chemical characteristics
of European water resources will have consequences for several
economic sectors. Those that are projected to be most affected are
agriculture (increased demand for irrigation), energy (reduced
hydropower potential and cooling water availability), health (worsened
water quality), recreation (water-linked tourism), fisheries and
navigation. Serious impacts on biodiversity will also emerge.
The results of the questionnaire show that, in general, awareness of
climate change impacts is high and that policy makers are well
informed. However, many adaptation measures focus on flood defences
and most measures are directed to reducing vulnerability to current
climate variability, but not to addressing long-term climate change.
Therefore, there is considerable scope for advancing adaptation
planning and implementation in other areas including public health,
water resources and management of ecosystems.
Uncertainties with respect to future climate change impacts are a
major obstacle to the development of adaptation actions. Therefore,
more research is still needed. A better database with information on
frequency, intensity, the effects of extreme events and national
adaptation practices would facilitate the development of effective
adaptation strategies.
Many countries highlight the need for Member States to react flexibly
to the specific challenges in their countries. Nevertheless, many also
see the EU as playing a role in the coordination of transboundary
issues and sector-based policies. In this regard, there are already
several tools, policy instruments for emerging European frameworks
that can provide the necessary coordination, cohesion and guidance,
such as the Green Paper on Climate Change Adaptation, which is to be
published in 2007.
Overall, this report highlights that existing adaptive measures are
not sufficient and that further policy efforts are still needed to
better adapt to the expected climate change effects on water
resources.
For more information: http://reports.eea.europa.eu/technical_report_2007_2/en
(p. 114, 2007).
Additional information: In view of the need to deal with cross-cutting
climate-change policy issues, the EC's financial instrument for the
environment (LIFE) supported a number of different LIFE projects aimed
to support further policy efforts and to find innovative measures and
solutions to combat climate change. Some of these projects are also
featured in the new edition of the LIFE-Focus series, "LIFE and
Energy".
Theme(s): Water, climate change and energy, sustainable development
and policy assessment.
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How to boost Wind Power Development
The European Union's current goal is to increase the share of
electricity produced from renewable energy sources by up to 22% by
2010 (Directive 2001/77/EC). In line with European objectives, in 2002
the Swedish government adopted a national planning goal of yearly
electricity production from wind power of 10 TWh by 2015, which
implied a substantial increase from the 0.851 TWh level of 2005. In
spite of these policy goals and measures, wind power has achieved
considerably more modest results in Sweden than in other European
countries, such as Germany, Spain or Denmark.
Swedish researchers have recently analysed the potential for future
wind power development in Sweden, with special emphasis on what
constitutes the main obstacles to further diffusion of windmills in
the country's electric power sector. To this end, the researchers
assessed the economic factors as well as the different policy
instruments and legal issues that have an impact on its competitive
position compared to other power technologies. They also studied the
public attitude towards wind power in general by sending out a postal
survey to 1,000 Swedish homeowners.
An economic analysis shows that when considering existing taxes and
subsidies, the competitive positions generally change in favour of
wind power in comparison to gas, coal, and some hydro-based power
sources. For example, the green certificate system is designed to
promote a cost efficient introduction of renewable power
technologies.
On the other hand, the authors highlight that legal protection against
activities with a negative impact (i.e. on the landscape) and that
includes wind turbines, is strong in Sweden. From the point of view of
the investor, this situation gives rise to major uncertainties about
the economic outcome of the proposed project. Moreover, the different
territorial plans strongly affect the possibilities for wind power
generation, and therefore, local municipalities play a crucial role in
this planning process. The authors argue that differences between
municipal planning requirements for mill location can, to a large
extend, be explained by differences in the attitudes of local
politicians. Therefore, according to the authors, in the absence of
binding national planning goals, as exist in Denmark or Germany, wind
power will always run the risk of facing local obstacles to its
implementation.
The results of the survey show that the Swedish public have in general
a positive attitude towards wind power, as it is considered as
environmental friendly. Nevertheless, most of the objections to its
expansion tend to have had environmental origins. This is probably due
to the fact that the overall environmental benefits of wind power
generation are not always visualised at the implementation stage.
The current study shows that the existing policy instruments intended
to promote wind power are strong enough to make wind power projects
competitive, but current legal rules for environmental permits and
territorial planning, and public criticism at the local level, create
substantial investment uncertainties. Even though these results have
been drawn from the Swedish context, they may be useful for policy
makers all over Europe when considering future policies to boost
renewable energies in general and wind energy in particular.
During the recent meeting in Brussels on 8-9 March 2007, all Member
States agreed on a binding target of a 20% share of renewable energies
in overall EU energy consumption by 2020. It would then be up to each
member state to decide on national targets for specific sectors -
electricity, heating and cooling, etc. Furthermore, a 10% minimum
target on biofuels was also agreed, although the EU leaders stressed
that the binding nature of this objective was subject to "production
being sustainable", and to "second-generation biofuels becoming
commercially available".
Source: Patrik Söderholm, Kristina Ek, and Maria Pettersson (2007) «
Wind power development in Sweden: Global policies and local obstacles.
» Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 11: 365-400
Contact: patrik.s...@ltu.se
Theme(s): Environmental technologies, climate change and energy,
sustainable development and policy assessment.
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Evaluating Mid to Long-Term Impacts of Chemicals on Marine
Communities
There is now unequivocal evidence that a variety of natural and
synthetic substances, called endocrine disruptors (ED)1, have the
ability to affect the reproductive development of a diverse range of
wildlife, in many cases leading to disorders such as imposex (abnormal
development of male characteristics on female individuals) or
intersexuality (coexistence of male and female reproductive systems).
As many EDs remain in the environment for a long time, they have been
subject to increased monitoring and tighter legislation over the last
decades. In 1999, the European Commission launched a program, which is
still ongoing, aiming to establish a priority list of substances for
further evaluation of their role in endocrine disruption (COM(1999)706
final). Moreover, research on ED is still actively funded by the
European Commission with the objective of better understanding their
action mechanisms and assessing their risks in order to take efficient
policy action within the REACH global framework.
Some effects of ED are well known at individual levels but there have
been very few studies that link individual effects and population
levels. In this study, the authors modelled how different levels of
intersexuality in a shrimp species (Echinogammarus marinus) affect the
mid to long-term survival of the population. Model parameters were
taken from field observations. Five population groups were considered
(juveniles, males, immature females, normal adult females and adult
intersex females) and the authors compared the dynamics of a normal
population (50% male, 50% female) with a population having increased
proportions of intersex females. Intersex females are known to lay
fewer eggs and their survival once hatched is 10% lower than for
normal females. Male intersexuality was not considered due to a lack
of data.
Their results were as follows:
If intersex females occur at the expense of normal females, the
population collapses in 2.3 to 6 years when intersex females account
for 5% and 10% respectively.
If intersex females occur at the expense of males, the population
grows exponentially as both female and intersex females are now able
to recruit juveniles. However, if the number of intersex females
reaches half the number of normal females, even with a male proportion
as low as 27%, the population collapses within 10 years.
If intersex females occur at the expense of both males and normal
females, there is also a decrease in the population density with
extinction predicted in less than 10 years.
These results prove populations can collapse quickly when
intersexuality is artificially induced in populations.
Further studies are still needed to investigate the effects of male
intersexuality even if they suggest that a population decline would
also be observed.
While providing toxicologists and ecologists with a new model for
investigating the impacts of endocrine disrupting chemicals, the study
emphasizes the urgent need for better control of pollutants released
into marine environments as some populations could show dramatic
declines due to former exposure.
1For more information, see DG Research website and DG Environment
website on Endocrine Disrupters.
Source: Ford A.T., Martins I., Fernandes T.F. (2007), « Population
level effects of intersexuality in the marine environment », "Science
of the Total Environment 374:102-111
Contact: alex...@thurso.uhi.ac.uk
Theme(s): Marine Ecosystems, Chemicals.
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How to protect Waterbirds from Lead Shot Poisoning?
Wetlands in Andalusia (southern Spain) are essential habitats for
migratory and sedentary birds and are important breeding areas for
other birds such as raptors. In the past, overexploitation of these
areas by hunters entailed an accumulation of lead (Pb) shots which may
have poisoned waterfowls when ingested. Due to high levels of lead-
induced mortality in birds, the use of lead shot for waterbird hunting
has been illegal in Andalusia since 2002. This is in accordance with
the "Sustainable Hunting Initiative" that recommends not using lead
shot in wetlands in order to better protect birds in the context of
Natura 20001. However, the consequences of intensive hunting
activities in the past and continued illegal hunting practices may
still impact waterfowl communities.
Spanish scientists have recently studied the density of lead shot in
several Andalusian wetlands and ingested by birds in order to assess
to what extent these areas are still contaminated by lead shot. To
this end, they analysed sediment samples in one marsh and six closed-
basins in Andalusia. To measure the lead content in birds, the
scientists used X-ray experiments and visual observation of gizzards.
The authors found that the density of lead shots in the upper 10 cm of
sediments is heterogeneous and varies from no lead shot to about 150
lead shots per m2 depending on the site. The scientists further
observed that most of the shots are concentrated at a depth of between
5 and 20 cm. For the nine bird species that were studied, they
observed an ingestion of Pb shot in 1% to 28% of birds, depending on
the species. In addition, they found embedded lead shots in 1% to 44%
of the birds, depending on the species. For raptors, the presence of
Pb shots was observed in 11% of the cast pellets regurgitated by birds
but declined to 3% during the temporary hunting ban of 1998.
The authors point out that waterfowl ingest lead shots because they
perceive them as grit. To preserve these bird species, many actions
have been put into place in Andalusia such as a ban on lead shot or a
partial clean-up of the area. These actions could explain the
declining trend in lead shots observed in some bird species. However,
the results of this study show that these local efforts may not be
efficient for migratory species since geese and ducks migrate through
France where no restrictions on lead shots have been established.
This work shows that lead shots resulting from intensive hunting in
the past and from illegal hunting today are found in both wetlands and
waterbirds in Andalusia, and have in turn contributed to an increase
in bird mortality. The authors argue that the observed decrease of
lead shots in birds is probably linked to local measures but they
argue that these measures should be extended to broader areas for a
better protection of migratory species that can be contaminated by
lead shots elsewhere. In addition, waterfowl hunters and their
families, especially children, are at risk from secondary lead
ingestion from these poisoned birds. Therefore, health management and
environmental authorities should draw urgent attention to this
environmental problem that presents such a risk to both birds and to
human health.
The Commission is promoting the phasing out of lead shot for hunting
in wetlands as soon as possible by Member States. This is given added
significance since the 2005 ratification by the European Community of
the African Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) which also aims to
achieve this objective. The two key stakeholder groups in Europe on
hunting, Birdlife International and FACE (Federation of Associations
for Hunting and Conservation of the EU) have also agreed a target to
achieve a phase out by 2009 at the latest.
1For more information, see the Report of the Green Week Workshop on
Sustainable hunting within and around the Natura 2000 network
Source: R. Mateo et al. (2007) « Lead poisoning in wild birds from
southern Spain: A comparative study of wetland areas and species
affected, and trends over time », Ecotoxicology and Environmental
Safety 66:119-126.
Contact:rafael...@uclm.es
Theme(s): Chemicals.
(Source: DG Environment News / European Commission)