Review of recommendations in agriculture-related water policy and policy research

This report reviews 175 agriculture-related water policy recommendations from the European Commission, HELCOM, and EU BONUS projects. It finds that governance is the most prioritized area (31%), followed by financing and methods/tools. While the EU and HELCOM focus on regulatory frameworks and international harmonization, BONUS projects advocate for more innovative, result-based payments and co-governance. Notably, biodiversity and enforcement are entirely absent from the recommendations, and climate change is rarely mentioned.

• Governance was the most frequent category of policy recommendations, accounting for 31% of the total with 54 recommendations. These focused on institutions, management, reporting, stakeholder engagement, standards, indicators, and action plans.
• Financing and costs (18 recommendations) and methods and tools (17 recommendations) were the second and third largest categories of policy recommendations, respectively.
• There is a preference for general recommendations regarding governance and financial measures over global issues; considerations for biodiversity and climate change were significantly less common or entirely absent.
• Of the 175 total recommendations, 83 came from BONUS projects, 51 from HELCOM, and 42 from the EU Nitrates Directive (ND) and Water Framework Directive (WFD).
• Recommendations regarding financing were heavily skewed toward BONUS projects, which provided 15 of the 18 total recommendations in this category. A significant focus within these was the shift toward outcome- or result-based payments to increase farmer participation in agri-environmental schemes.
• The European Commission's recommendations via the Nitrates Directive and Water Framework Directive focused heavily on governance (21 recommendations) and monitoring systems (6 recommendations), emphasizing the development of action programmes in nitrate vulnerable zones and improving surface water monitoring.
• HELCOM recommendations emphasized international cooperation and the harmonization of standards, such as nutrient content in manure and nutrient uptake of crops.
• BONUS project recommendations were the most thematically diverse, advocating for 'systems understanding', co-governance involving local farmers or catchment councils, and the use of spatially differentiated regulations instead of uniform ones.
• Recommendations for nutrient management included promoting nutrient accounting, pursuing 'nutrient neutrality' through compensation systems, and researching the industrialization of algae production to turn nutrients into benefits.
• Biodiversity considerations and enforcement were the only two categories for which no policy recommendations were identified across any of the analyzed sources.

APA

Peterson, K., Tiik, J. M., & Kuldna, P. (2019). Review of recommendations in agriculture-related water policy and policy research. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/waterdrive-o4.1.-part-i--report-on-agri-water-policy-recommendations-june-2019.pdf

Chicago

Peterson, Kaja, Johanna Maarja Tiik, and Piret Kuldna. Review of recommendations in agriculture-related water policy and policy research. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/waterdrive-o4.1.-part-i--report-on-agri-water-policy-recommendations-june-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Peterson |first1=Kaja |last2=Tiik |first2=Johanna Maarja |last3=Kuldna |first3=Piret |title=Review of recommendations in agriculture-related water policy and policy research |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/waterdrive-o4.1.-part-i--report-on-agri-water-policy-recommendations-june-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peterson2019review, author = {Peterson, Kaja and Tiik, Johanna Maarja and Kuldna, Piret}, title = {{Review of recommendations in agriculture-related water policy and policy research}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/waterdrive-o4.1.-part-i--report-on-agri-water-policy-recommendations-june-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }