Legislative recommendations for future harmonisation of water and agricultural policy on local, regional, national and EU level. Deliverable D6.2 of the EU Horizon 2020 project OPTAIN.
Creators: name: Glavan, Matjaž
name: Nesheim, Ingrid
name: Enge, Caroline
name: Noč, Matic
name: Banovec, Primož
name: Cvejić, Rozalija
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022

description: Deliverable report D6.2 of the EU Horizon 2020 Project OPTAIN (Grant agreement No. 862756)

D6.2 analysed the diversity and differences in agricultural water management policy arrangements and governance practices in the OPTAIN case studies to derive options for general and specific policy recommendations on various governance levels from local, regional, national, to the EU level. The results should allow a better balancing among different levels of governance and enable best possible applications of these options in strategies for agricultural climate change adaptation from soil water and nutrient management perspective.

Summary

The overall aim of OPTAINs deliverable D6.2 is to derive general and specific recommendations for policy and legislative implementation at different levels to support the future harmonisation of water and agriculture policy, and better balance among different levels of governance. To complete the aim, we firstly analysed policy arrangements and focal policy gaps in the in-depth cross-sectoral survey that included a combination of closed and open-ended questions. The survey included 144 relevant stakeholders, i.e. stakeholders that work on policy making and or policy implementation from 12 countries, situated in three different biogeographical regions (BGR) (Boreal, Continental and Pannonian). Secondly, we identified for each OPTAIN case study country the governance structure for management of water, nature and agriculture (agricultural catchments) by means of literature search and key informant interviews. Accessibility to informants was severely affected in specific environments by the period of the research (winter 2021/2022), when the COVID-19 epidemic was in full swing. In some case studies, the informants were thus not available. In others, CS leaders fell ill. We mitigated this by adjusting and extending the period of the research.

Implementers of measures addressing sustainable solutions for water and nutrient retention should be given generous financial support while implementing the measures is subject to additional training.

When including the measure (voluntary or mandatory) in the program for implementation, the authorities should also foresee implementing educational events and awareness-raising campaigns among key stakeholders.

In order to improve cooperation and achieve policy coordination as quickly as possible, the individual community should define and decide on shared priorities. This would give strategy makers a clear signal and direction for coordination.

Policy and legislation documents should be upgraded to improve the uptake/implementation of water and nutrient retention measures with appropriately targeted financial support, accompanied by informal education (demonstrations, workshops) of the broadest possible population, with administrative simplifications and active help to shorten the time of procedures in the placement and implementation of measures.

It is necessary to actively and professionally advise the stakeholders on implementing the measures, educate them practically by demonstrating good practices, regularly perform measurements, analyse them and provide feedback on the results for possible adjustment of practices.

Authorities should improve the visibility and position of individual sectors and topics in spatial planning legislative documents. This is especially important for landscape water retention in relation to agriculture and water management.

To a large extent, there is a lack of a comprehensive solution for water surplus in all three studied biogeographical regions, where the Boreal and Continental regions stand out. Comprehensive solutions for water scarcity are most needed in the Pannonian and Continental regions. This means that authorities should invest in comprehensive, integrated catchment analysis (under WFD RBMP) and, in cooperation with all sectors, define potential locations and the required extent of the water retention measures that would mitigate climate change impacts and support adaptation of affected sectors.