Climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector in Europe
Agriculture
Subtopics
Towards a 'sustainable agriculture'
The European GNSS Agency (GSA), an agency of the European Union (EU) that manages Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) programmes, EGNOS and Galileo, today announced the return of the Farming by Satellite Prize. Registration is now open for young innovators to explore the use of satellite technologies in agriculture to enable sustainable farming practices, improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact. The Farming by Satellite Prize is a joint initiative with the European Environment Agency (EEA) that also manages the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and cross-service In Situ co-ordination.
Emission cuts in the European Union’s (EU) Effort Sharing sectors need to accelerate considerably from 2018 onwards to achieve the current EU 2030 targets, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today. In particular, the large amount of emission reductions from planned measures in the transport sector need to materialise through concrete actions.
The shared vision for Europe’s seas is a healthy marine environment where human-induced eutrophication is minimised. However, the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) assessment, published today, shows that eutrophication still remains a large scale problem in some of Europe’s regionals seas. The assessment shows some positive effects from better nutrient management but the overall target of healthy seas will not be met everywhere by 2020.
Published: 10 Mar 2020
EU legislation on Effort Sharing covers emissions from a wide range of sectors, such as road transport, heating and cooling in residential and commercial buildings, agriculture and small industries. These sectors have significantly different emission drivers and reduction potentials. Reducing these emissions to meet national Effort Sharing targets requires a diversified and well-adapted policy mix at the national level. Having reported a large number of planned policies and measures under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation in March 2019, EU Member States and the United Kingdom must now fully implement them to allow the EU to deliver on its decarbonisation objectives. This briefing provides an updated overview of sectoral trends, projections of greenhouse gas emissions, and planned policies and measures in the EU Effort Sharing sectors.
Published: 30 Sep 2019
We cannot live without healthy land and soil. It is on land that we produce most of our food and we build our homes. For all species — animals and plants living on land or water — land is vital. Soil — one of the essential components of land — is a very complex and often undervalued element, teeming with life. Unfortunately, the way we currently use land and soil in Europe and in the world is not sustainable. This has significant impacts on life on land.
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The European GNSS Agency (GSA), an agency of the European Union (EU) that manages Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) programmes, EGNOS and Galileo, today announced the return of the Farming by Satellite Prize. Registration is now open for young innovators to explore the use of satellite technologies in agriculture to enable sustainable farming practices, improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact. The Farming by Satellite Prize is a joint initiative with the European Environment Agency (EEA) that also manages the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and cross-service In Situ co-ordination.
Member States must cut emissions across all sectors to achieve EU climate targets by 2030
News 10 Mar 2020Emission cuts in the European Union’s (EU) Effort Sharing sectors need to accelerate considerably from 2018 onwards to achieve the current EU 2030 targets, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today. In particular, the large amount of emission reductions from planned measures in the transport sector need to materialise through concrete actions.
The shared vision for Europe’s seas is a healthy marine environment where human-induced eutrophication is minimised. However, the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) assessment, published today, shows that eutrophication still remains a large scale problem in some of Europe’s regionals seas. The assessment shows some positive effects from better nutrient management but the overall target of healthy seas will not be met everywhere by 2020.
Crop and livestock production is projected to decrease and may even have to be abandoned in parts of Europe’s southern and Mediterranean regions due to the increased negative impacts of climate change, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today. The study says that adapting to climate change must be made a top priority for the European Union’s agriculture sector if it is to improve resilience to extreme events like droughts, heatwaves and floods.
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Land and soil: towards the sustainable use and management of these vital resources
Article 30 Sep 2019We cannot live without healthy land and soil. It is on land that we produce most of our food and we build our homes. For all species — animals and plants living on land or water — land is vital.
Europe’s landscape is changing. Cities and their infrastructures are expanding into productive agricultural land, cutting the landscape into smaller patches, affecting wildlife and ecosystems. In addition to landscape fragmentation, soil and land face a number of other threats: contamination, erosion, compaction, sealing, degradation and even abandonment. What if we could recycle the land already taken by cities and urban infrastructure instead of taking agricultural land?
Climate change has a major impact on soil, and changes in land use and soil can either accelerate or slow down climate change. Without healthier soils and a sustainable land and soil management, we cannot tackle the climate crisis, produce enough food and adapt to a changing climate. The answer might lie in preserving and restoring key ecosystems and letting nature capture carbon from the atmosphere.
Most of the food we eat is produced on land and in soil. What we eat and how we produce it have changed significantly in the last century along with the European landscape and society. The intensification of agriculture has enabled Europe to produce more food and at more affordable prices but at the expense of the environment and traditional farming. It is now time to rethink our relationship with the food we put on our plates and with the land and communities that produce it.
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National action across all sectors needed to reach greenhouse gas Effort Sharing targets
Publication 10 Mar 2020EU legislation on Effort Sharing covers emissions from a wide range of sectors, such as road transport, heating and cooling in residential and commercial buildings, agriculture and small industries. These sectors have significantly different emission drivers and reduction potentials. Reducing these emissions to meet national Effort Sharing targets requires a diversified and well-adapted policy mix at the national level. Having reported a large number of planned policies and measures under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation in March 2019, EU Member States and the United Kingdom must now fully implement them to allow the EU to deliver on its decarbonisation objectives. This briefing provides an updated overview of sectoral trends, projections of greenhouse gas emissions, and planned policies and measures in the EU Effort Sharing sectors.
We cannot live without healthy land and soil. It is on land that we produce most of our food and we build our homes. For all species — animals and plants living on land or water — land is vital. Soil — one of the essential components of land — is a very complex and often undervalued element, teeming with life. Unfortunately, the way we currently use land and soil in Europe and in the world is not sustainable. This has significant impacts on life on land.
Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways. Changes in temperature and precipitation as well as weather and climate extremes are already influencing crop yields and livestock productivity in Europe. Weather and climate conditions also affect the availability of water needed for irrigation, livestock watering practices, processing of agricultural products, and transport and storage conditions. Climate change is projected to reduce crop productivity in parts of southern Europe and to improve the conditions for growing crops in northern Europe. Although northern regions may experience longer growing seasons and more suitable crop conditions in future, the number of extreme events negatively affecting agriculture in Europe is projected to increase.
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