The impact of climate change on Europe's water resources is a critical issue for people's lives and the economy. Even if emissions of greenhouse gases were stabilised today, increases in temperature and the associated impacts, including water availability and flooding, will continue for many decades to come. This report, which was published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in February 2007 and co-authored by Ecologic, shows that there is a need to adapt to climate change for water resource policy and regulation across Europe. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of current policies and regulations, and describes progress and activities in European countries.

How can societies adapt to the consequences of global change? This question gains importance at EU level given the alarming trends that are being observed, and is one of the focal points of the German EU presidency in 2007. This project analyses the challenges that climate change poses to water management in Europe, and develops options and strategies to meet these challenges.