Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Water Law & Sustainable Trajectories - Introduction and French report

Résumé

This year’s Avosetta meeting in Rennes will look at the topic of Water Law & Sustainable Trajectories. The choice of this topic resonates strongly with current events such as demonstrated by the UN Water Conference in 2023, 46 years after the first UN Water conference in Mar Del Plata (Argentina). As one of the outcomes of this conference, the Water Action Agenda brings together a collection of voluntary commitments from States, regional integration organisations such as the EU and other stakeholders. This blue diplomatic effervescence confirms that Water, source of Life but also of growing conflicts exacerbated by climate change, seems at last to have become a priority issue on the political agenda in the context of the UN Water Action Decade 2018-2028 and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development.This international momentum and awareness of the urgency of the situation is also reflected at the level of the EU and its Member States. Faced with multidimensional and cross-cutting issues, a critical analysis of water and environmental Law is essential. Calls for transformative action also require a strong contribution from all branches of Law for sustainable water trajectories.Recent conflicts over the sharing of water resources in Europe, such as the protest marches against water storage projects “mega-basins” in France, illustrate the urgent need to go beyond the classic extractive business as usual. Similarly, given the lack of rainfall in recent months, in early February 2024, Catalonia’s recent declaration of drought emergency for Barcelona and the surrounding areas raises questions about the current legal framework for the management and the governance of water resources & aquatic environments. The availability of water in sufficient quality and quantity is clearly at stake in several regions in Europe. It questions our uses of water resources and the prioritization of our water needs. This crucial issue impacts on many human activities but also on ecosystems and natural entities. As highlighted by the Commission, “with still a majority of EU water bodies not in good status, a further acceleration of action by Member States is urgently needed” . According to the EU report , among EU groundwater bodies, 75% achieved good chemical status and 90% achieved good quantitative status. The situation is clearly worrying for EU surface waters bodies for which only 44 % are in a good or high ecological status and only 31% are of good chemical status (with major disparities between and within Member States). In addition to new challenges such as the increasing scarcity of water resources, water efficiency and water reuse, the water footprint and the emergence of new micropollutants, compliance with European and national water legislation faces a number of legal, financial and technical obstacles. Delays in the effective implementation of environmental obligations are seriously jeopardizing the chances of achieving the ambitious objectives of the WFD on time. Water litigation before the Court of Justice of the EU is the sector of EU environmental litigation in which the greatest number of financial penalties have been imposed on Member States that fail to comply with their EU Water obligations.The European Green Deal is also presented by the Commission as a “unique opportunity that should be seized by Member States and stakeholders alike to secure a water-resilient future” for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (access to water and sanitation) interlinked with the other 16 SGDs. In its last report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the Commission advocated a "multifaceted agenda for water resilience" for 2030. Such agenda is presented as the trajectory of this policy at the crossroads of the complex challenges of climate, food and energy security, biodiversity and circular use of natural resources. In 2023 the European Economic and Social Committee adopted several own-initiative opinions on a number of key water issues and is calling for a European Blue Pact in interaction with the European Green Deal. However, on the eve of the European elections in 2024, the setback to the environmental ambitions of the EU and its Member States is particularly worrying, going against the grain of scientific expertise . Such political context makes it all the more necessary to reflect together on the legal [changes] [challenges] [?] and transformations in water policies and on the relevance of a future Blue Pact for Europe in synergy with the policies of Member States. In view of the importance of such an ambitious project, the questionnaire will select the most relevant topics for discussion

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Dates et versions

halshs-04864603 , version 1 (05-01-2025)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : halshs-04864603 , version 1

Citer

Nathalie Hervé-Fournereau, Simon Jolivet. Water Law & Sustainable Trajectories - Introduction and French report. WATER LAW & SUSTAINABLE TRAJECTORIES, Avosetta Group Association des juristes européens pour l'environnement - Nathalie Hervé-Fournereau coordinatrice de la rencontre, May 2024, Rennes, France. ⟨halshs-04864603⟩
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