TY - JOUR

T1 - A multi-actor, participatory approach to identify policy and technical barriers to better farming practices that protect our drinking water sources

AU - Campling, Paul

AU - Joris, Ingeborg

AU - Calliera, Maura

AU - Capri, Ettore

AU - Marchis, Alexandru

AU - Kuczyńska, Anna

AU - Vereijken, Tom

AU - Majewska, Zuzanna

AU - Belmans, Els

AU - Borremans, Lieve

AU - Dupon, Elien

AU - Pauwelyn, Ellen

AU - Mellander, Per Erik

AU - Fennell, Christopher

AU - Fenton, Owen

AU - Burgess, Edward

AU - Puscas, Alexandra

AU - Gil, Elena Isla

AU - de Alda, Miren Lopez

AU - Tudel, Gemma Francès

AU - Andersen, Erling

AU - Højber, Anker Lajer

AU - Nowakowska, Marzena

AU - Suciu, Nicoleta

N1 - 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

PY - 2021/2/10

Y1 - 2021/2/10

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Best Management Practices

KW - Common Agricultural Policy

KW - Mitigation measures

KW - Nitrates

KW - Plant protection products

KW - Water contamination

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142971

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142971

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33172636

AN - SCOPUS:85095815672

VL - 755

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

M1 - 142971

ER -