World water resources are under high pressure and pressures are increasing. The impacts of climate change are increasingly visible in our water systems and has effect in our everyday life. Extreme weather phenomena – floods, periods of drought and rising sea levels – challenge our infrastructure, ecosystem and the functioning of our society. Water resilience, or the ability to adapt to and recover from disturbances affecting water bodies, has become a key concept in climate and environmental policy.
In Finland, I see that water resilience means, among other things effective water supply in all circumstances, including in crisis situations. Natural water management, such as the utilisation of wetlands and flood meadows will balance the natural water circle. Investing in research and innovation so that we can develop new solutions for water management to adapt to the changing conditions.
Water resilience is not just a technical or ecological issue – it is also a social and economic challenge. The availability and quality of water have a direct impact on people’s health, livelihoods and the vitality of regions. To achieve water resilient society means investments in green infrastructure, close cooperation with water sector actors and the development of legislation to support proactive and ensure sustainable, fair and inclusive water management.
The nature and especially waters, which have been under vast pressure from human activities during the past decades, do not recover that easily and fast that we have hoped. In addition, we have identified new substances and chemicals which causes risks to water quality and human health. Top of that there is more and more unbalance between water demand and supply. The efficient use of water is one of the key issues to protect water.
We are lucky in Finland, because we have plenty of clean water, which is sufficiently distributed and allocated, and we can take clean water for granted. The water management and protection are not an easy task and this I have noticed working in global, European and national level. I believe in strong cooperation. Water is bridging many different policies such as energy, agriculture, biodiversity. Finland has been a forerunner in water protection. I want to stress the importance of keeping the ambition to reach the objectives set in the EU -legislation for the status of waters. The achieve and maintain the water resilience means that we have to put effort to measures improving the quality of waters and water efficiency.
The commission has set a target to improve 10 % of the water efficiency in EU level by 2030. The improvement of water efficiency should be mainstreamed to all sectors, particularly to agricultural and industrial water use. I see that we still need to strengthen and address interdependences between food, energy and water. Better technologies based on closed cycles, improvement of resource and energy and improved wastewater treatment are some of the corner stones to achieve this target.
Efficient water use is important in the agricultural sector all parts of the Europe. Increasing agricultural production will increase water demand and therefore sustainable and integrated management of water use in agriculture needs special attention.
We need better water technologies based on closed water cycles and to improve the use of water resources and to look for new environmentally friendly energy technologies in order to support the green transition. Water efficiency in industrial production means improvement of energy and resource efficiency –closing the circles. I see that water reuse should be enlarged so that it also covers industrial use of treated wastewater as a resource for energy, heat and nutrients.
Also, improvement of the wastewater treatment processes in line with the new EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive will be our challenge. I would like to stress that innovative water efficiency and wastewater management solutions offer huge business potential to our technology development and to our industry.
We see the Council Conclusions on Water Resilience Strategy as a good solid base for the water protection in which the most important issue for the future work is highlighted. Finland understands the value of the water protection and we appreciate the added value of EU water legislation to support national water protection, and it has given a more solid base for our national environmental legislation.
We have a long history of integrated water management, and we have done long term work with water and marine protection on national and international forums already for many decades. Finland sees important that the strategy emphasises Source to sea -approach and contains a link to the joint mission to the OceanPact, which deals extensively with maritime policy and the state of the sea.
Finland sees important that the EU legislation is fully implemented and it´s application is streamlined throughout Europe. This is important especially for all investments and activities. The enterprises appreciate uniform and predictable legislation, and it safeguards healthy competitiveness.
I strongly see that the objectives set in the EU Water Resilience Strategy will need a change of policies towards more sustainable water management. This includes improving efficiency in water use, and reduction of water pollution in order to improve water quality and maintaining ecosystems. The water resilience will have impacts on human health, benefits to the economics, preparedness for risks to conflict and on increasing food security.
Climate change is also a security concern, which can disrupt infrastructure, and threaten food and water supply chains. To mitigate these risks, we have to promote climate adaptation measures, sustainable land use planning, and the protection of biodiversity. This can be done by developing resilient infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather events and long-term environmental shifts.
Water as a cross-cutting element is a part of the comprehensive security. In the concept for comprehensive security, the vital functions of society, such as the water and energy supply, are taken care of in collaboration between the authorities, business community, organizations and citizens at all levels of society. Broad cooperation with the stakeholders at the national and regional level, innovative water cycle management solutions and good governance in all levels to improve water efficiency and to reduce the water pollution.
Finland can lead the way in water resilience. We have strong water expertise, clean water resources and a desire to act towards water resilience in all sectors in society. Together we can build a society that not only survive the changes caused by the changing climate – but flourishes in the midst of them. Without clean water we cannot manage. We make all possible actions to meet the targets to pollution reduction in order to enjoy the wellbeing of waters.
I would like to finish by quoting the Water Framework Directive´s first preambular: “Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such.”
Sari Multala
Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
Finland
