The main aim of EU water policy is to ensure that a sufficient quantity of good-quality water is available for both people's needs and the environment. The Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000, established a framework for the assessment, management, protection and...

Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 foresees that Member States will, with the assistance of the Commission, map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014. This report provides operational guidance to the EU and the Member States on...

Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 foresees that Member States will, with the assistance of the Commission, map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014. This report provides operational guidance to the EU and the Member States on...

This report is a supplement to the EU Ecosystem Assessment (Maes et al., 2020). The assessment is carried out by Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency, DG Environment, and the European Topic Centres on Biological Diversity and on Urban, Land and Soil Systems. This supplement...

Europe's ecosystems, on which we depend for food, timber, clean air, clean water, climate regulation and recreation, suffer from unrelenting pressures caused by intensive land or sea use, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and invasive alien species. Ensuring that ecosystems achieve or...

Greenhouse gases covered by the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol include amongst others, three groups of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases): hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). These F-gases have very long lifetimes in the atmosphere and high global...

The Europe 2020 strategy is the European Union's strategy for economic growth in Europe over the next decade. This strategy envisages the development of a 'greener', more environmentally friendly economy in Europe. Sustainable water management is a critical element of this green economy because...

Water plays a central role in the functioning of the biosphere and in supporting all life. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly important, providing a unique and diverse array of services upon which human society depends. These services include 'provisioning' services, such as the provision of...