LIFE AgroClimaWater – Promoting water efficiency and supporting the shift towards a climate resilient agriculture in Mediterranean countries

The LIFE AgroClimaWater project is a climate change adaptation project which started in September 2015 and will run for 60 months. The project’s main objective is to prepare the agricultural sector to adapt to climate change through the introduction of Water Management Adaptation Strategies (WMAS) in Farmers’ Organizations (FORs), based on the principles of European Water Stewardship (EWS) standard adapted to agriculture. Project activities will be focused in two areas in Crete, Greece (Mirabello and Platanias) and in one area in Italy (Metapontino) and will be implemented in a selected river sub-basin in each area.

WMAS will include a set of good agricultural practices at farm scale, which will facilitate adaptation of local orchards under reduced or erratic water availability induced by the imminent climate change, as well as actions focused on adapting the organization and strategy of the FORs towards a more efficient use of water resources. The overall goal is to secure future food supplies and stabilize and maintain the farmers’ income, irrespective of the prevailing weather conditions.

Further actions will be focused on promotion of knowledge transfer to farmers and FORs, achievement of a baseline for climate change awareness in the pilot sub-basins, dissemination of project results in an effort to extend the application of the proposed WMAS in areas facing similar climate challenges during the “after LIFE” period and finally the long-term aim of the project will be to promote incorporation of project’s results in the local environmental, climate change and agricultural strategy and/or legislation.

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Partners:

Coordinating Beneficiary:

Associated Beneficiaries:

  • University of Basilicata – Dipartimento delle Culture Europee e del Mediterraneo (http://dicem.unibas.it/site/home.html)
  • Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DEMETER”, Directorate General of Agricultural Research, Institute for Olive Tree, Subtropical Plants and Viticulture (lri.gr/en.aspx)
  • Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DEMETER”, Directorate General of Agricultural Research, Soil and Water Resources Institute (nagref-cha.gr/index.php/en.html)
  • RodaxAgro Ltd (rodaxagro.gr)
  • Agricultural Cooperative Partnership Mirabello Union S.A. (easm.gr)
  • Assofruit Italia (assofruit.com)

Platanias Municipality Development Enterprise (www.platanias.gr/en)

Description of the project:

The LIFE AgroClimaWater project focuses on the preparation of the agricultural sector to adapt to climate change through the introduction of Water Management Adaptation Strategies (WMAS) in Farmers’ Organizations (FORs) level. More in particular, the proposed project aims to establish WMASs which will be implemented by three F.ORs in Crete, Greece and Basilicata, Italy, in order to prepare their farmers and parcels adapt to climate change. Moreover, through the revisions that are foreseen throughout the project’s lifespan the partnership aims to prepare a WMAS which will be implemented after the end of the project not only by farmers and F.ORs within the targeted areas of Crete and Italy, but also by others in the Mediterranean area who face similar climate challenges after the necessary adjustments. In the WMASs Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) that increase water efficiency in cultivation of perennial crops are included. The GAPs will be demonstrated during the project will build adaptive capacity of farmers and F.ORs in order to ensure the highest possible productivity under minimal or erratic water availability induced by the imminent climate change.

The key outcomes of LIFE AgroClimaWater are:

  • The adjustment of the European Water Stewardship (EWS) standard in order to be valid for the agricultural sector and to be utilized as a tool to assess and improve water efficiency on the farms and F.ORs level. This will be done through the identification and analysis of its requirements and the development of Agricultural Water Management System (AWMS) guidelines and the required AWMS Forms for the collection of the necessary data as well as through its adoption by FORS in the frame of WMAS implementation.
  • The development and implementation of the WMAS and GAPs which will be used as a key tool for the adaptation of agricultural sector to climate change
  • The monitoring the applied GAPs and WMAS, as well as their efficiency and socio-economic impact of the project, in order their results to be used for the evaluation and adjustment of the proposed practices and WMAS at the end of the project

The final revision of the WMAS, AWMS and GAPs taking into account the above mentioned results in order to prepare a tool that will be used not only in Crete and Italy but also in other Mediterranean areas where the agricultural sector faces similar climate challenges

Contact

HYETOS S.A.

7, Ippodromiou Sq. 546 21, Thessaloniki, Greece

Tel.: +30 23102506001-3
Fax: +30 2310230428

Website: www.lifeagroclimawater.eu
E-mail: agroclimawater@yetos.gr

Contact person: Elisavet Pavlidou

Responsible for networking actions:

Institute for Olive Tree, Subtropical Plants and Viticulture

Website: www.lri.gr/en.aspx
E-mail: gpsarras@nagref-cha.gr

Tel.: +30 2821083440
Fax: +30 2821093963

Contact person: George Psarras