“In a rapidly changing world, climate and water resilience is no longer an option: it is a necessity for Europe’s future”, said the Cypriot Minister for the Environment and Agriculture, Maria Panayiotou, host of the informal meeting of European environment ministers in Nicosia on Friday 6 February.
She explained that the ministers had examined how to turn “our shared ambition into concrete action” within the European Union.
Discussions focused on three key initiatives: the future European framework for climate resilience, the European strategy for water resilience and the future regulation on the circular economy.
The discussions paved the way for future work, particularly with regard to the coherence of this framework and the need for adequate funding, according to the Cypriot minister.
A document from the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union points out that since 1980, EU Member States have recorded €822 billion in economic losses due to extreme weather events, including €208 billion between 2021 and 2024.
The EU aims to become a leader in climate and water resilience, by combining economic competitiveness, financing and adaptation measures. Every year, 30% of Europe’s territory and 33% of its population are affected by pressure on water resources. Water resilience must be aligned with climate policies and benefit from coordinated funding and investment, according to the Cypriot document.
The European Commissioner for Environment, Jessika Roswall, said that investing in water was “investing in our economic security”. She stressed that “the cost of inaction is simply too high” and pointed out that, without adaptation, the annual cost of droughts could reach €45 billion, while that of coastal flooding could rise to €1,000 billion by the end of the century.
In this context, she called on Member States to make full use of cohesion policy funds, the rules of which have been relaxed to facilitate investment in water resilience. She also mentioned a new €15 billion loan for the water sector from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The Commissioner also addressed the issue of forest fires.
Together with Commissioner Janez Lenarčič, she will announce the launch of a European forest fire management strategy later this spring. This strategy will aim to put fire resilience at the top of the political agenda and improve the use of existing tools, covering the whole cycle - from prevention to reconstruction - with greater reliance on science, innovation and cooperation between Member States.
From an environmental point of view, Jessika Roswall stressed the importance of preserving healthy ecosystems, which she described as “the first line of defence against forest fires”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)