Seminar 1 – Agriculture 

Danger and solutions for a human right to water in rural regions

Following World Fish Migration Day, 150 NGOs have joined forces to call on the EU institutions to stop public funding of new hydropower projects in Europe. Building more hydropower is contrary to the biodiversity goals of the European Green Deal, as new power plants would only make a small contribution to the energy transition, weighted by the environmental damage they cause. NGOs call for public investment to be redirected towards upgrading existing plants, energy efficiency measures and less polluting renewable energy alternatives such as wind and solar power.

The mobilisation by NGOs comes a few months after new analysis showed that 93% of Europe's freshwater migratory fish have been lost since 1970, partly due to hydropower. While 91% of existing and planned plants in Europe are considered "small" - meaning they have a capacity of less than 10MW - and contribute little to the energy mix, their environmental impact is dramatic. If built, these plants will destroy Europe's last free-flowing rivers and further degrade increasingly fragile freshwater ecosystems.

Environmental organisations demand ambitious implementation of European targets from federal and state governments

Joint press release by BUND, GRÜNE LIGA, NABU, WWF and the environmental umbrella organisation Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR)

Berlin, 11.09.2020 -

"Water protection is a service of general interest. Without further financial and human resources as well as adaptation of organisational structures and laws, the European obligations to protect water bodies cannot be implemented," declare the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), the Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR), the GRÜNE LIGA, the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) and the WWF Deutschland on the occasion of today's Water Protection Forum of the environmental associations. "The three consecutive dry summers show quite clearly that water is a very precious commodity even in our latitudes," the associations agreed and demanded that the federal and state governments consistently protect water bodies in line with European requirements.

Without fundamental changes in European agricultural policy, the goals of the Water Framework Directive cannot be achieved. Nutrients and pesticides, but also the transformation of watercourses for intensive agriculture, are causing problems for water bodies. The GRÜNE LIGA Federal Contact Point for Water has compiled some positive approaches across the EU and published them in cooperation with the European Environmental Bureau EEB in the brochure: "Agri-Water-Nexus - Agricultural practices that protect water".

The position paper can be downloaded here (pdf 1.1 MB).

On the occasion of the Bonn2011 conference "The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus - Solutions for the Green Economy", the GRÜNE LIGA published the 12-page brochure "Water for Life", which addresses key international challenges such as the human right to water and sanitation, European river basin management and international dam plans. The position paper was produced in cooperation with Forum Environment and Development, Global Nature Fund, infoe, Lake Constance Foundation, Netzwerk unser Wasser and International Rivers. For the realisation of the German edition (February 2011), Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Netzwerk Lebendige Seen Deutschland could also be won as cooperation partners.

The position paper can be downloaded here (pdf 1.02 MB).