Revision of the policy instruments and their potential to contribute to EU droughts and water scarcity policies

The main objective of this analysis was to make a review of relevant existing EU legal frameworks in different sectors and find out how they can contribute to “EU drought policy”.

The report is meant to be an addition to the Guidelines for preparation of the Drought Management Plans which introduced a seven step approach to develop a plan in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive. The analysis is aiming to identify any other selected policies in the field of water, agriculture, climate change, energy, industry, transport, nature and biodiversity that might be complementary and supporting to management of droughts, even if those policies were not geared to primarily address droughts.

The report serves countries with background information for the integration of drought management into the most relevant existing policies. Additionally, it supports the development of a separate (new) drought policy with reference to existing legal frameworks.