A multi-actor, participatory approach to identify policy and technical barriers to better farming practices that protect our drinking water sources
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Final published version, 1.39 MB, PDF document
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.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 142971 |
Journal | Science of the Total Environment |
Volume | 755 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISSN | 0048-9697 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Feb 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
This research is part of the WaterProtect project and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement No. 727450. The authors and the entire WaterProtect team would like to thank all the actors across the seven Action Labs for their commitment and enthusiasm for engaging with the WaterProtect project.
Funding Information:
This research is part of the WaterProtect project and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement No. 727450 . The authors and the entire WaterProtect team would like to thank all the actors across the seven Action Labs for their commitment and enthusiasm for engaging with the WaterProtect project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
- Best Management Practices, Common Agricultural Policy, Mitigation measures, Nitrates, Plant protection products, Water contamination
Research areas
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