Agriculture and economics in the water framework directiveProgress and limitations

Resumen

The agricultural sector is having an increasing impact on water resources in Spain, both from a quantitative (consumption) and qualitative (pollution) point of view. Therefore, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) will have a deep impact on this productive sector. In fact, new river management plans are aiming to reduce these pressures through the implementation of programmes of measures. These instruments will impose new requirements (costs) on farming activities, and this lead to the adoption of more efficient and sustainable production methods. Within this context the aim of this paper is to analyse how this new planning process is being developed, especially focusing on the use of economical analysis in order to select the programme of measures affecting the agricultural sector.