A multi-actor, participatory approach to identify policy and technical barriers to better farming practices that protect our drinking water sources

Abstract

Despite an improvement of water quality across Europe there are many pollution hotspots for both nitrates and PPPs, mainly due to agricultural activities. The BMPs and MMs to reduce pollution from agriculture are well known, and there are policy instruments in place to ensure drinking water standards, but the current approach has not been efficient enough. Within the H2020 Water Protect project the premise was that there is a need for a multi-actor, participatory approach to tackle the issue from a new angle, and to assess why the uptake of known BMPs and MMs was not better among farmers. Seven “Action Labs” were selected that represent major physical, socio-economical, cultural and farming settings across Europe. A methodology of multi-actor engagement was chosen but with different approaches due to the local context. Initially the level of farmers' awareness about water quality issues was matched to the observed uptake rates of BMPs and MMs. In a second survey barriers hindering the uptake of measures were identified. The first survey revealed a low general awareness on the potential pollution to drinking water sources. Despite this, between 24% to 88% of the surveyed farmers per Action Lab were already voluntarily adopting one quarter of the selected BMPs and MMs. The second survey demonstrated the need to address organisational, legislative, sociological and technical barriers. The lack of coordination between different institutional bodies promoting measures and the financial incentives needed to invest and operate these often-costly measures need to be considered. The multi-actor, participatory approach with its improved awareness and collaboration made it possible to identify the crucial factors for improvement - to build a social acceptance among all actors and communicate the issues and solutions from the start.

Application of ozone electrodispersion technology for disinfection of water

“…Agriculture accounts for 30% to 60% of the local water used throughout Europe and contributes to water pollution from emissions of nutrients, pesticides and other pollutants (eg tractor oils). Due to nitrate pollution and plant protection products (PPP), agriculture is a major source of environmental pressure leading to an inability to achieve good groundwater chemistry status [3]. Uzbekistan ranked 25th out of 164 in the ranking of countries suffering from withdrawal stress, published by the World Resources Institute [16].…”

The Impact of Various Types of Cultivation on Stream Water Quality in Central Poland

“…Water pollution due to various human impacts is considered a serious challenge faced by state governments in recent years [1,2]. It was documented that one of the most significant sources of such degradation is area-based water contamination from agricultural practices, such as plant cultivation, livestock production, and rural wastewater inflows [3][4][5]. In terms of agricultural practices, nitrogen pollution was documented to be a crucial problem [6], which, among others, leads to excessive eutrophication of lakes and seas [7,8].…”

Integrating Environmental and Social Dimensions with Science-Based Knowledge for a Sustainable Pesticides Management—A Project of Lombardy Region in Italy

“…To achieve sustainable agri-food production, the recent trend of research and policy actions is to focus on the complex task of generating a long-term culture strategy that also includes a bottom-up adoption of sustainable and good practices [1][2][3]. In this framework, the evaluation of agricultural sustainability activities at the farm level has grown considerably [4][5][6], and several research programs, aimed to foster the adoption of sustainable practices with the involvement of farmers, have been developed in a multi-stakeholder's process [7][8][9]. The connection between farmers' socio-economic status and the perceived importance of sustainable agricultural practices is now well recognized and has also been considered in several European projects in the Horizon 2020 work program, such as BROWSE [10], WATERPROTECT [11], and INNOSETA [12].…”