Aquarius

Background and Aim

Aim
Aquarius aimed to develop the farmer as water manager able to practice sustainable farming under climatic changes with due respect to environmental protection. Farmers can take an active role in the positive management of water resources through partnerships with other farmers, water boards, local and national government.

Within this overall goal Aquarius aimed to: 

• Identify common and particular constraints on farmers successfully acting as water managers
• Develop innovative mixes of technical, financial, institutional approaches to integrated land-water management by farmers
• Test approaches to participation in the cooperative planning and implementation of land-water management initiatives by agencies and farmers
• Incorporate state-of-the-art research outcomes into management and policy (particularly from climatic changes, agro-ecology and governance)
• Increase the interaction between land-water stakeholders both locally and across boundaries (local, national and EU) and across sectors (e.g. land, water and recreation)
• Ensure a legacy by creating demonstration sites and stakeholder networks that will continue to encourage further innovation

Background
Across large areas of rural Europe there is an observable increase in the incidence of extremes of flows and of droughts. Intense rainfall events increase erosion and the input of nutrients and pathogens to water and low flows in drier summers hinder the ability of waters to dilute diffuse inputs with negative consequences for the ecosystem. Such changes are an additional challenge for meeting or maintaining good ecological status for water bodies in the NSR as described in the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

As a response to these problems Aquarius will focus on the implementation of sustainable, integrated, land-water management through engaging with land managers. The partnerships developed in Aquarius will contribute to a balanced implementation of European environmental related policies e.g. European Climate Change Program; the DG Agriculture Climate Action and the Common Agricultural Policy and particularly the WFD. Experiences from participation in EU projects like No Regret and AGWAPLAN will be included in this search for balanced solutions.

This project recognises farmers as key actors for the sustainable management of water and their capacity to aggravate or mitigate extreme flows, droughts and water quality. Successful integrated land-water management depends on developing inclusive partnerships and processes that facilitate the initiation, planning, negotiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of initiatives.

Successful land-water management partnerships, however, also depend on the existence of appropriate institutional, economic and governance arrangements. Aquarius will assess where there are barriers to farmers acting as water managers and how these may be overcome.