Climate change

Water availability: Current water availability in European river basins and changes in average annual water availability under the LREM-E scenario by 2030
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Current water availability and changes expected by 2030: Located in Data and maps › Maps and graphs
Percentage of Europe experiencing moderate drought conditions during the 20th century: Expressed as standardized precipitation indices (SPI) for time scales of 12 months
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Desertification in the Mediterranean region: The European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment (ETC-TE) has been asked by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to support the development of a sensitivity mapping on desertification and drought in the Mediterranean countries at scale 1 : 1.000.000
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Sensitivity to desertification and drought in Europe: Desertification is an advanced stage of land degradation where the soil has lost part of its capability to support human communities and ecosystems
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Use of freshwater resources - outlook from EEA (Outlook 014) - Assessment published Jun 2007: Total water abstraction in Europe is expected to decrease by more than 10 % between 2000 and 2030 with pronounced decreases in Western Europe. Climate change is expected to reduce water availability and increase irrigation withdrawals in Mediterranean river basins. Under mid-range assumptions on temperature and precipitation changes, water availability is expected to decline in southern and south-eastern Europe (by 10 % or more in some river basins by 2030). The sectoral profile of water abstraction is expected to change: withdrawals for the electricity sector are projected to decrease dramatically over the next 30 years as a result of continuing substitution of once-through cooling by less water-intensive cooling tower systems. Water use in the manufacturing sector may grow significantly. Agricultureis expected to remain the largest water user in the Mediterranen countries, with more irrigation and warmer and drier growing seasons resulting from climate change.
Located in Data and maps › Indicators › Use of freshwater resources - outlook from EEA
Living with Climate change: Global warming is happening. Temperatures have already risen by 0.76 degrees since the industrial revolution and are projected to rise further by 1.8 - 4 degrees by the end of the century. The last time climate change happened at this pace was 125,000 years ago and led to a 4-6 metre sea level rise. Global warming at the upper end of the scale predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change would have catastrophic consequences for Europe. Up to 30% of plant, animal and bird species would be wiped out and the threat of natural disasters such as landslides, floods and mudslides would increase significantly.
Located in Environmental topics › Climate change › Multimedia
Extreme weather variations with climate change: (This video has no audio.) In the past decade Europe has been affected by three remarkable weather extremes. The summers of 1995 and 2003 were extremely hot throughout most parts of Europe. In contrast, 2002 was very wet and saw extreme flooding in central Europe. Changes are also projected for the amount of rainfall in Europe, which could more pronounced flooding. Cold winters (which occurred once every 10 years from 1961 to 1990) are likely to become rare and will almost entirely disappear by 2080. In contrast, by 2080 nearly every summer in many parts of Europe is projected to be hotter than the 10 % hottest summers in the current climate. In southern Europe, these changes are projected to occur even earlier (in Spain by the 2020s) (Parry, 2000). This could have severe consequences for agriculture, water resources and the frequency of forest fires in southern Europe. Source: EEA Report No 2/2004 "Impacts of Europe's changing climate" (published 18 Aug 2004)
Located in Environmental topics › Climate change › Multimedia
Prof. Jacqueline McGlade on adapting to the impacts of climate change – speech for the ESPACE initiative: In her speech, Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA), stresses the importance of imbedding climate change into planning systems and processes. ESPACE (European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events) is a four-year European project promoting the importance of adapting the entire planning process to the impacts of climate change.
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Sensitivity to desertification index map: Map from the DISMED project (Desertification Information System for the Mediterranean) showing the sensitivity to desertification and drought as defined by the sensitivity to desertification index (SDI) based on soil quality, climate and vegetation parameters.
Located in Data and maps › Maps and graphs