Integration of EU water and development policies: A plausible expectation?

Abstract

Water, an essential life support resource for humans and ecosystems, is inextricably linked to development. Since antiquity, differences in availability and proximity to sources of water have accounted for differences in the socio-spatial structure of human settlements and modes of production (see, for example, Wittfogel, 1957; Mumford, 1961). The available quantity of water determines the development potential of all human activities (housing, farming, energy production, etc.). Water quality is crucial for public health while the state of the aquatic environment is becoming an important determinant of regional attractiveness and location factor for investments. Although water resources are renewable, they cannot be exploited indefinitely without eventually degrading. The mismanagement of water has long-term impacts on the sustainability of a region. In the semi-arid and sub-humid areas of Mediterranean Europe, the incidence of desertification owes, to a considerable extent, to serious shortages of water resources due to climatic and hydrologic variability and changes, development policies dissociated from water availability, mismanagement of water resources, and increasing water consumption. © Helen Briassoulis 2005.