Freshwater
Europe’s water at a crossroads
Water is the foundation of all life and is vital to people’s health and happiness, to the environment, wildlife and our economy. It is used in the production of food, and energy and virtually all the products we use in our daily life.
Water is cleaned and stored in freshwater ecosystems, such as our rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers. It is a key life support system on which people, plants and animals all depend; and it represents billions of Euros in economic benefits.
But the EU’s water has been polluted, mismanaged and overused, and freshwater ecosystems have degraded rapidly over the last centuries. More than half of wetlands have been lost and 38% of Europe’s freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction with 12% already extinct. Climate change will only make matters worse.
People are feeling the consequences of this too: the frequency of severe flooding and the damages it causes have increased, in part due to the degradation of freshwater ecosystems. 11% of the EU population is already affected by water scarcity. If current consumption patterns continue, nearly half the world's projected population will face water-stress by 2025.
Water is cleaned and stored in freshwater ecosystems, such as our rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers. It is a key life support system on which people, plants and animals all depend; and it represents billions of Euros in economic benefits.
But the EU’s water has been polluted, mismanaged and overused, and freshwater ecosystems have degraded rapidly over the last centuries. More than half of wetlands have been lost and 38% of Europe’s freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction with 12% already extinct. Climate change will only make matters worse.
People are feeling the consequences of this too: the frequency of severe flooding and the damages it causes have increased, in part due to the degradation of freshwater ecosystems. 11% of the EU population is already affected by water scarcity. If current consumption patterns continue, nearly half the world's projected population will face water-stress by 2025.
Unsustainable transport is still a threat for the Danube Delta