Preserving water resilience, preventing the weakening of the Water Framework Directive

The document argues that revising the Water Framework Directive (WFD) would create legal uncertainty and weaken environmental protections at a time when accelerating implementation is critical for climate adaptation and water resilience. The signatories contend that the WFD is essential for food security, public health, and the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, and that any changes intended to facilitate critical raw material extraction should not come at the expense of water quality and ecosystem health.

• The signatories urge the European Commission to avoid amending the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Q2 2026, arguing that such a revision would likely lead to the directive's weakening and hinder progress toward water resilience.
• Water resilience is identified as a fundamental component of climate adaptation and a necessary condition for Europe's economic, digital, and green transitions, as well as for food security and the Human Right to Water and Sanitation.
• The authors argue that reopening the WFD to support the EU's self-sufficiency in critical raw materials is unacceptable without evidence that current laws are a significant barrier to mining or an assessment of the impacts on health, the environment, and sectors like tourism and agriculture.
• The document highlights the increasing economic urgency of water resilience, noting that average annual economic losses from weather- and climate-related extremes were 2.5 times higher between 2020 and 2023 than in the previous decade.

APA

ClientEarth (2026). Preserving water resilience, preventing the weakening of the Water Framework Directive. https://www.clientearth.org/media/oaejzxm5/civil-society-letter-on-wfd-revision_18-february-2026.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Preserving water resilience, preventing the weakening of the Water Framework Directive. 2026. https://www.clientearth.org/media/oaejzxm5/civil-society-letter-on-wfd-revision_18-february-2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Preserving water resilience, preventing the weakening of the Water Framework Directive |date=18 February 2026 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/oaejzxm5/civil-society-letter-on-wfd-revision_18-february-2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2026preserving, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Preserving water resilience, preventing the weakening of the Water Framework Directive}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/oaejzxm5/civil-society-letter-on-wfd-revision_18-february-2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }