European Union’s long term vision for 2050 involves the creation of a stable environment for sustainable investment and growth.

To realise a safe and sustainable global society, where competitiveness is enhanced and natural resources are managed sustainably, The 7th Environment Action Programme (EAP) identifies key objectives which go beyond the concept of protecting the Union’s natural capital and highlight the necessity of turning the Union into a resource-efficient and competitive low-carbon economy.

Making European regions more competitive requires focusing on their strengths and turning challenges into opportunities. Competitive advantages are also provided by the relative abundance of natural resources, which should be used in an efficient way. The figure below provides an example of how different sectors may compete for the use of resources (in this case land): under the pressure of urbanisation and the expansion of energy crops, food and feed crops are increasingly allocated on land less suitable for their cultivation. The results below also take into account the effect of climate change.

Source: JRC Technical Report EUR 27018

One horizontal priority focuses on the Union’s cities: the majority of Europe’s population lives in urban areas and, if not properly managed, population growth and migration flows to urban areas may intensify already existing socio-economic and environmental problems. Of particular concern are environment-related pressures and risks to citizens’ health and wellbeing.

Air pollution is among the most important environmental concerns amongst cities in the EU. On the one hand, much progress has been made as a result of EU legislation, targeting the reduction of emissions of air pollutants, such as nitrogen and sulphur oxides, or heavy metals. The still steadily increasing population in urban areas, however, makes the Union’s long-term prosperity and quality of life a continuous challenge.

The figure below reports an example on the evolution of the urban population’s exposure to air pollution by PM10, under the EU Reference Scenario 2014. Environmental quality and human health are hindered by increasing levels of road traffic and other polluting activities in densely populated areas. Such scenarios need to be tackled by means of an integrative strategy, which includes also the maintenance and development of green urban areas.

Source: JRC Technical Report EUR 26938

The potential future effectiveness of such greening measures can also be assessed in terms of the relative change in water retention in the landscape under a specific land management scenario. The Water Retention Index (WRI) reflects the relative capacity of the landscape to regulate or retain water at Pan-European scale, using proxy data to estimate the contribution of interception by vegetation, storage in surface water bodies, infiltration and retention in soil, and percolation to groundwater stores. The index can be used as a measure of the effectiveness of the landscape in managing water quantity and therefore reducing the risk of both flooding and water shortages.

The figure below shows the results of three potential greening scenarios at the European scale. The relative changes in landscape water retention as compared to the 2030 baseline are given in percentages at the river basin level. The results vary greatly spatially, meaning that the best management strategy to apply also varies depending on the region.

(Source: The Water Retention Index: Using land use planning to manage water resources in Europe, 22nd International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 13 – 15 July 2016, Conference Proceedings)