Annex I / Environment, including Climate Change

Objective

Sustainable management of the environment and its resources through advancing our knowledge on the interactions between the climate, biosphere, ecosystems and human activities, and developing new technologies, tools and services, in order to address in an integrated way global environmental issues. Emphasis will be put on prediction of climate, ecological, earth and ocean systems changes; on tools and technologies for monitoring, prevention, mitigation and adaptation of environmental pressures and risks including on health, as well as for the sustainability of the natural and man-made environment.

Rationale

Environmental problems go beyond national frontiers and require a coordinated approach at a pan-European and often global level. Earth's natural resources and the man-made environment are under intense pressures from growing population, urbanisation, construction, continuous expansion of the agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, transport, and energy sectors, as well as climate variability and warming at local, regional and global scales. Europe needs to engage in a new sustainable relationship with the environment while improving competitiveness and strengthening European industry. EU-wide cooperation is needed to attain critical mass given the scale, scope and high level of complexity of environmental research. It facilitates common planning, the use of connected and inter-operable databases, and the development of coherent and large scale observation and forecasting systems. Research should address the need for data management and information services and problems about data transfer, integration, mapping.

Research is needed at EU level for the implementation of international commitments such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and its Kyoto protocol, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the objectives of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, including the EU Water Initiative, and contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Earth Observation initiative.

In addition there are significant research needs arising from existing and emerging EU level policies, the implementation of the 6th Environmental Action Plan and associated thematic strategies (e.g. the EU marine strategy), the action plans, programmes and directives on Environmental Technologies and Environment and Health, the Water Framework and NATURA 2000.

The EU needs to strengthen its position in world markets for environmental technologies. Such technologies contribute to sustainable consumption and production helping to deliver sustainable growth providing eco-efficient solutions to environmental problems at different scales and protecting our cultural and natural heritage. Environmental requirements act as a stimulus for innovation and can provide business opportunities and higher competitiveness while at the same time ensuring a more sustainable future for next generations. European Technology Platforms on water supply and sanitation and on sustainable chemistry confirm the need for EU level action and their research agendas are taken into consideration in the activities below. Other Platforms (e.g. on Construction and on Forestry) partially deal with environmental technology issues and are taken into consideration as well. Socio-economic aspects particularly strongly influence the development and introduction of environmental technologies to the market and their subsequent application as for example in water resources management. Activities shall consider the socio-economic aspects of policies and technological developments, whenever relevant to the topic.

A series of activities are listed below²³ many of which are directly relevant to policy needs. However, additional support may be provided to new policy needs that emerge, for example relating to sustainability impact assessments of EU policies; the follow up of the post-Kyoto action on Climate Change; and new environmental policies such as in the European Soil Strategy and in maritime policy, standards and regulations.

Activities

• Climate change, pollution and risks

  
  

  - Pressures on environment and climate: Functioning of climate and the earth system including the polar regions; adaptation and mitigation measures; pollution in air, soil and water; changes in atmospheric composition and water cycle; global and regional interactions between climate and atmosphere, land surface, ice and the ocean; and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, including the effects of the sea level rise on coastal zones and impacts on particularly sensitive areas.

  
  

  – Environment and health: Interaction of environmental stressors with human health including identification of sources, biomonitoring research for environment related health, indoor air quality and links to indoor environment, urban environment, car emissions and impact and emerging risk factors; integrated risk assessment methods for hazardous substances including alternatives to animal testing; quantification and cost-benefit analysis of environmental health risks and indicators for prevention strategies.

  
  

  – Natural hazards: Improve forecasting and integrated hazards - vulnerability - and risk assessments for disasters related to geological hazards (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis) and climate (such as storms, droughts, floods, forest fires, landslides, avalanches and other extreme events) and their impact; develop early warning systems and improve prevention, mitigation and management strategies, also within a multi-risk approach.

  
  

• Sustainable Management of Resources

  
  

  – Conservation and sustainable management of natural and man-made resources and biodiversity: ecosystems; water resources management; waste management and prevention; protection and management of biodiversity,

   including control of invasive alien species, soil, seabed, lagoons and coastal areas protection, approaches against desertification and land degradation, preservation of landscape; sustainable use and management of forests; sustainable management and planning of urban environment, including post-industrialized zones; data management and information services; assessment and foresight relating to natural processes.

  
  

  – Management of marine environments: Impacts of human activities on the marine environment and its resources; pollution and eutrophication in regional seas and coastal areas; deep sea ecosystems; assessment of marine biodiversity trends, of ecosystem processes and of ocean circulation; seabed geology. Development of strategies, concepts and tools for a sustainable use of the ocean and its resources.

• Environmental Technologies

  
  

  – Environmental technologies for observation, simulation, prevention, mitigation, adaptation, remediation and restoration of the natural and man-made environment: related to water, climate, air, marine, urban and rural environment, soil, waste treatment, recycling, clean production processes and sustainable products, chemicals safety.

  
  

  – Protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, including human habitat: improved damage assessment on cultural heritage, development of innovative conservation strategies, foster integration of cultural heritage in the urban setting.

  
  

  – Technology assessment, verification and testing: Methods and tools for environmental risk and lifecycle assessment of processes, technologies and products, including alternative testing strategies and in particular non-animal methods for industrial chemicals; support for sustainable chemistry, forest-based sector technology, water supply and sanitation Platforms²⁴; scientific and technological aspects of a future European environmental technologies verification and testing programme, complementing third party assessment instruments.

• Earth observation and assessment tools

  
  

  – Earth and ocean observation systems and monitoring methods for the environment and sustainable development: Contribute to the development and integration of observation systems for environmental and sustainability issues in the framework of GEOSS (to which GMES is complementary); interoperability between systems and optimisation of information for understanding, modelling and predicating environmental phenomena, for assessing, exploring and managing natural resources.

  
  

  Forecasting methods and assessment tools for sustainable development taking into account differing scales of observation: modelling links between economy/environment/society including market based instruments, externalities, thresholds and developing the knowledge base and methodologies for sustainability impact assessment on key issues such as land use and marine issues; urban development, social and economic tensions related to climate change.

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²³ Complementary research relating to the production and use of biological resources is addressed under the "Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology" theme.

²⁴ The research agendas of relevant European Technology Platforms will be taken into account in the different activities.