Sustainability of European Irrigation Agriculture Under Water framework Directive and Agenda 2000

Abstract

The objective of the WADI project is to analyse the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in Europe in the context of post Agenda 2000 agricultural policies and in the context of the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. The approach followed to evaluate the sustainability of irrigation integrates the concepts of environmental sustainability and economic and social sustainability. This work analyses the implications that the Water Framework Directive (WFD) may have on three major irrigation regions of Portugal – Baixo Alentejo, Lezíria do Tejo and Baixo Mondego– when a volumetric tariff is applied to irrigation water under different policy scenarios. The first sections provide a general description of the main features of agriculture and irrigated agriculture in Portugal; describes the selected study regions and characterizes some typologies within these regions; and explains the methodology used in this study. Later on the impacts of policy change, particularly concerning prospective future scenarios and the impact caused by WFD implementation via a volumetric tariff, are presented at a regionally aggregated level.