Associazione Nazionale Consorzi Gestione e Tutela del Territorio e Acque irrigue
ANBI
ANBI is a national association, with private legal personality, representing and defending the interests of land reclamation consortiums, irrigation and land improvement operating in our country.
ID: 862022722581-06
Lobbying Activity
Response to European climate resilience and risk management law
4 Sept 2025
ANBI welcome the EU Commission initiative to facilitate a coordinated, efficient and effective action to ensure a proper level of resilience to climate change. ANBI pro-actively support water resilient farming practices, such as precision farming, high-tech irrigation systems and strategies, water reuse, improved soil management, landscape features, Nature-Based Solutions and Natural Water Retention Management implementation. The Agricultural Water Board associated to Irrigants dEurope are restlessly engaged in research, innovation, dissemination, training and capacity building - often investing their own resources - to achieve maximum water use efficiency and productivity. ANBI reiterates that irrigated agriculture and agricultural water governance are essential to keeping our towns and villages alive, generating employment, caring for the land, protecting from floods, droughts and preventing the expansion of wild fires. Achieving a real resilience to climate change will only be possible with the engagement of farmers and the enhancement of agricultural water infrastructures. Protecting them means protecting the future, not only of rural areas but also of urban areas. ANBI underline the importance of food security and access to healthy food over the EU to prevent the increase of social inequality. As regards the objectives of the present initiative, ANBI agree with the need for simplification and relief of bureaucratic burdens as well as tackling institutional barriers and inadequate policies, calling for a recast of the Water Framework Directive. In this context, ANBI emphasis the close interconnection between climate resilience and water resilience and the need for effective coordination between these two intertwined strategies, aiming to an environmentally friendly and socio-economic sustainable water use in all the sectors. Action is required to address financial barriers and market failures, providing funds commensurate with the ambition and the urgency of present challenges, promoting the use of satellite and in-situ data, AI powered digital tools, services and applications for climate risk assessment, monitoring and management, making irrigated agriculture a leading sector for the expansion of EU-made AI. ANBI reaffirms that a full involvement of irrigated agriculture representatives in the whole process of the EU climate initiative is essential to overcome behavioural, knowledge and informational barriers favouring irrigated agriculture sector stewardship. ANBI underline need of a portfolio of response options, including new water storage facilities or increased storage capacity of existing reservoirs, aquifer recharge, modernisation of irrigation systems, as well as the maintenance, expansion and digitalisation of existing agricultural water networks. ANBI highlights the strategic role water infrastructures plays in climate risk management and adaptation, specifically for the agricultural sector. Long-term plans to retain water as long as possible into the soil and in rural landscape by means of a more resilient agricultural water networks and of multifunctional storage infrastructure. Agricultural water infrastructures are pillars of the future EU climate risk management and resilience. These actions need to be implemented within a broad Water/Energy/Food/Environment (WEFE) nexus management framework at local scale. In parallel, actions are required to tackle compounding risks of drought, floods and wild fires using an open minded, non-prejudicial approach to water infrastructure and its participatory governance in rural areas. Among the keystone innovations to be sought, ANBI points plant breeding with the goal of obtaining more climate-resistant crops, a pre-requisite for a climate proof agriculture. MORE IN THE ATTACHED FILE.
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