6. PoultrymeatpreparationsproducedinCommunityapprovedestablishmentsmaybeplacedanywhere
ontheCommunitymarket.ThesemeatpreparationsmustmeettherelevantCommunityhygienicproduction,labellingandmarketingstandardsandmaybecommercialisedchilledorfrozen.
7. The additionofwater or ofproteins does not,by itself or necessarily, contaminate the product,
particularlyiftheprescriptionsoftherelevantCommunitylegislationareadheredto.
Notwithstandingtheforegoing,theCommissionisconcernedlestconsumersintheEuropeanUnionbe
misled or misinformed about the content of meat or meat products. The Commission has thereforeorderedareviewoftheapplicablelegislationtoseewhatimprovementscanbemadeintheinterestsofconsumers.
(1) OJL109,6.5.2000.
(2004/C58E/165) WRITTENQUESTIONE-2274/03
byErikMeijer(GUE/NGL)totheCommission
(9July2003)
Subject:Global warming, freshwater shortages, flooding of tourist destinations on Southern European
coastlinesandimpactofdisplacementofholiday-makerstodifferenttimesandareas
1. Isthe Commissionaware that modelsforthe prediction ofclimate change in the 21stcentury
suggestthatwarmingwillbe40%greaterinSouthernEuropethan,onaverage,intheworldasawhole,i.e.thetemperaturewillriseby5°Casagainst3,5°C,whichwillbereflected,aboveall,inhighersummertemperaturesandreducedprecipitation?
2. IstheCommissionawarethatthemassesoftouristsfromfurthernorthinEuropewhospendtheir
summerholidaysonthecoastoftheMediterraneanhavebeenfoundtoconsidertemperaturesabove28°unpleasant,sothattheymightstayawayifsystematicallyhighertemperaturesareexpected?
3. IstheCommissionawarethatthepresenceofholiday-makersintheMediterraneanregionduringthe
peaksummerperiodresultsintheconsumptionofvastquantitiesoffreshwaterforpurposesofswimming,showering,keepinggolfcoursesgreenandextinguishingforestfireswhichbreakoutpartlyonaccountof
recreation,whilelessandlessfreshwaterisavailable?
4. DoestheCommissionregarditasinevitablethatcoastswhicharecurrentlypopularwithholiday-
makerswillincreasinglybecomeunusableasthesealevelrisesandthattheadjacentlandwillbecomedrier,inview,interalia,oftheon-goingwarming(againexemplifiedbythehotJunein2003),thefactthatEUMemberStatesarenotprovingsufficientlycapableofcomplyingwiththeirKyotoobligations,thealoofnessofthemajoroilconsumer/dashtheUS/dashfromattemptstocombatthegreenhouseeffect,theon-going burning downoftropical rainforestsandthe melting ofthe ice-caps atthe polesandin highmountainregions?
5. Inviewofthesedevelopments,isitlikelythatoverthenextfewdecadestheannualsummerexodus
fromnorthtosouthinEuropewilleithershifttodifferentseasonsoftheyearordiverttocooleranddampercoastssuchasthoseoftheNorthSeaandtheBaltic?IstheCommissionalreadymakingplansfor
cushioningtheresultantfar-reachingimpactontheenvironment,transportandregionaleconomies?Ifso,
how?
Source:Volkskrant,26June2003.
AnswergivenbyMrsWallströmonbehalfoftheCommission
(19September2003)
1. The Third AssessmentReport (TAR) ofthe Inter-Governmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC)
recognisesthatprojectedclimatechangesduringthe21stcenturyhavethepotentialtoleadtofuturelarge-scaleandpossibleirreversiblechangesinEarthsystemsresultinginimpactsatcontinentalandglobalscale.Ifthesechangesweretooccur,theirimpactswouldbewidespreadandsustained.6.3.2004EN C58E/151 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion
ModelsshowthatvulnerabilitytoclimatechangeinEuropedifferssubstantiallybetweenthevarioussub-
regionsandthatsouthernEuropeandtheEuropeanArcticaremorevulnerablethanotherpartsofEurope.TheCommissionisthereforeawarethatsouthernEuropemaybemoreaffectedthanotherpartsofEuropebecauseofthepossiblechangesinclimate.However,thiswouldhappenonlyifnomeasurestofightclimatechangeweretaken.
WhiletheEarth’sclimatechangesnaturallyoverthousandsofyears,thetrendhasbeenaccelerated(the
1990swasthewarmestdecadesince1861)throughtheconsumptionoffossilfuelandotheractivities.TheCommissionisthereforeactivelyworkingtocontainandtorevertthistrendinordertoensurethatthehuman-inducedclimatechangeissubstantiallyreduced.
2. TheCommissionisindeedawarethatthechangesinclimatemayalsohaveaneffectonholiday
destinations.TheThirdAssessmentReportindicatesthatrecreationalpreferencesarelikelytochangewithhigher temperatures. Heat waves are likely to reduce the traditional peak summer demand atMediterraneanholidaydestinations,thusincreasingthenumberoftouristsintheNorthSeaandBaltic
Searesorts.
3. TheCommissionisawarethatthepresenceofholidaymakersintheMediterraneanregionduringthe
peakseasoninsummerincreasestheconsumptionoffreshwaterforvariousreasons.TheCommissionistakingthisissueintoconsiderationwhileplanninghowtoaddressclimatechange.However,itshouldbenotedthatalsoexisting legislationastheWater FrameworkDirective(
1)(which entered intoforceon
22December2000andiscurrentlybeingtransposedintonationallegislationbyMemberStates)includestheinstrumentsandfeaturestosupportfuturewaterquantitymanagementneeds,whichmaybeusedontheregionallevelaspre-adaptationtool.
4.and5. Whilepreventionmeasurestoreduceclimatechangegasesareessentialandshouldbethecore
of Union’s policy, Article 5.3 of the Sixth Environment Action Programme (EAP)(
2) recognises that
adaptationtotheeffectsofclimatechangeisanecessarycomplement.Indeed,thereisnowconsensusinthescientificcommunitythat,despiteeffortstocutgreenhousegases,somewarmingwilloccurandtosuchanextentthatalongsideprevention,alsoadaptationstrategieswillbenecessary(
3).
Adaptation has the potential to reduce adverse impacts of climate change and to enhance beneficial
impacts,butwillincurcostsandwillnotpreventalldamages.Extremes,variabilityandratesofchangesareallkeyfeaturesinaddressingvulnerabilityandadaptationtoclimatechange,notsimplychangesinaverage climate conditions. Human and natural systemswill to some degree adapt automatically andautonomouslytoclimatechangeandplannedadaptationcansupplementthis.Theadaptationpotentialof
socio-economicsystemsinEuropeisrelativelyhighbecauseofeconomicconditions,astablepopulation
(withthecapacitytomovewithintheregion),andwell-developedpolitical,institutionalandtechnologicalsupportsystems.
ToimplementArticle5.3oftheSixthEAP,theCommissionenvisagesbuildingontheworkoftheIPCC.
However, strategic planning for this Commission’s activity in terms of time and resource is underdevelopment. Nonetheless in addition to the research supported under the Sixth Research andTechnological Development (RTD) Framework Programme, various demonstrationand implementationprojectsarefundedand,inspecificareas,climatechangeimpactsaretakenintoaccount.
The Parliament and Council Recommendation No 2002/413/EC of 30May 2002(
4), concerning the
implementationofIntegratedCoastalZoneManagement(ICZM),invitesMemberStatestosetupnationalstrategiesfortheircoasts.Guidingprinciplesandstrategicelementstobasethestrategiesonincludingaholisticlong-termperspectiveandrecognitionofthethreatsofclimatechange.C58E/152 EN6.3.2004 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion
Whilstthereisincreasingscientificcertaintythatthereistheneedforsomeadaptation,atthispointin
timetheexistinglackofcertaintyabouttheextentofregionalandlocalimpactsofclimatechangeisachallengeforconcreteadaptationprojectsandthedetaileddesignofmeasures.Therefore,muchemphasisislaidonfurtherexplorationandquantificationofpossibleimpactsandtheimprovementofregionalclimatechangeimpactmodellinginordertolaythegroundfortargetedadaptationmeasures.
Variousprojectsarecurrentlyongoinginthisarea.Initspan-Europeananalysisofcoastalerosion,the
EUrosionprojectincludestheeffectsofsealevelrise(
5).AmongLIFEprojects,‘LivingwiththeSea’(LIFE99
/dashNAT/UK/006081)lookedatclimatechangeandbio-diversityinparticular,whereastheproject‘CoastalChange, climate and instability’ (LIFE97 ENV/UK/000510) looked into the increased occurrence oflandslidesduetoclimatechange(
6).IntheareaofStructuralFunds,theSIAMstudyisestablishingthe
impacts of climate change in Portugal(7). The Interreg programme supports projects such as Espace,
lookingatintegratedregionaladaptationstrategies,andComriskandFrame(8),focussingonfloodingrisk
associated,interalia,withclimatechange.TheEuropeanSpatialObservatoryNetworkEsponincludesaproject examining the spatial distribution and impacts of natural hazards taking account of climatechange(
9).
Thereareseveralon-goingEuropeanprojectsinthecontextoftheFifthRTDFrameworkProgramme
dealingwiththeissuesofseasonalandinterannualvariationsofclimateandtheirimpactsonEurope.In
fact,theDemeterprojecthasdevelopedareliablecapabilityforseasonaltointerannualclimatepredictionand its impacts on European regions. Applications of these predictions within sectors of tourism,agriculture, energyandhealthwithlargeeconomicbenefitshavebeendemonstrated.(www.ecmwf.int/research/demeter).Similarly,Europeanresearchprojectsofclimatechangepredictionhaveconfirmedthemodelling results that Mediterranean is a sensitive area to be affected by changing precipitation andtemperaturepatternsresultingfromincreasingatmosphericconcentrationsofgreenhousegasesleadingtoclimatechange.SeveralprojectsalsodealwithriskoffloodingandforestfiresinEuropeanregionsduetoexpectedclimatechange.Inparticular,theEFFS(
10)project(http://effs.wldelft.nl/)hasdevelopedaEuropean
capability to forecast floodevents from four to ten days in advance, providing valuable pre-warninginformationtowater-authorities.TheSpreadproject(http://www.algosystems.gr/spread/)isdevelopingaframeworkforthedevelopmentandimplementationofanintegratedforestfiremanagementsystemforEurope. Inaddition, the Sixth Framework RTD Programme (2003-2006)offersnew opportunities forresearchontheseissuesunderitsPrioritythemeGlobalChangeandEcosystems.
Moreover,invariousMemberStatesnationalprojectsorprogrammesexaminetheissueofclimatechange
impacts(e.g.Italy:ENEAstudy;UnitedKingdom:Climatechangeimpactprogramme).
Oneoftheaimsofalltheseprojectsistocollectdatainordertoidentifypossiblestreamsofaction.
(1) Directive 2000/60/ECoftheParliamentandoftheCouncilof23October2000establishingaframeworkfor
Communityactioninthefieldofwaterpolicy,OJL327,22.10.2000.
(2) Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22July 2002 laying down the Sixth
CommunityEnvironmentActionProgramme;OJL242,10.9.2002.
(3) IntergovernmentalPanelonClimatechange,‘ClimateChange2001:WorkingGroupII:Impacts,Adaptationand
Vulnerability’,UnitedNationsEnvironmentProgramme/WorldMeteorologicalOrganisation(UNEP/WMO)(http://
www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/index.htm).
(4) OJL148,6.6.2002.
(5) PilotactiononbudgetlineB4-3090B,followinganamendmentbytheParliament;(http://www.eurosion.org).
(6) LIFEprojects:(http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/life/project/index.htm).
(7) ClimatechangeinPortugal:scenarios,impactsandadaptationmeasures,[SIAMIIref.tobeadded].
(8) Projects of respectively the Northwest Europe programme (http://www.nweurope.org) and the North sea
programme(http://www.interregnorthsea.org/index.asp?id=1).
(9) http://www.espon.lu
(10) EuropeanFloodForecastingSystem.6.3.2004EN C58E/153 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion