EASAC Environment Programme

The EASAC Environment Programme provides independent and leading edge scientific advice to EU environmental policy communities, drawing together contributions from experts from across the Science Academies of the EU. It aims to target its work on areas of priority interest in Europe.

The programme delivers its work though reports, briefings and workshops.

It has recently produced reports on the impacts of transboundary air pollution on EU air quality targets, on the use of biodiversity indicators in sustainability reporting in the EU and the importance of conserving biodiversity to secure ecosystem services in Europe.

Future work is planned on:

Setting credible targets for the conservation of biodiversity in the context of climate change, the aims of the work will be

• To stress the importance of all levels of biodiversity for our survival;
• To define different threats to biodiversity due to climate change (for example temperature change and changes in water availability);
• To highlight the most vulnerable habitats and ecosystems (aquatic systems, forests), which are also of primary importance for our survival;
• To define synergistic/antagonistic effects of existing pressures (i.e. habitat destruction, invasive species, overexploitation) and climate change;
• To find examples of best available practice to mitigate the effects of global changes on biodiversity;
• To develop the scientific basis for effective biodiversity targets for the EU.
• It is expected that a working group will deliver a report in 2012  

Planning for climate change: adaptation strategies for the EU. There will be three elements of this work:

• Adaptation to changes in the water cycle, led by the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences
• Adaptation to rising sea levels, led by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Adaptation to extreme weather, led by the Royal Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

It is expected that the working groups will deliver preliminary reports in 2011 and a final report in 2012

There will also be a major project with the Energy Programme:  

Development of sustainable biofuels for the EU, the aims of which will be to work with EU policy communities to develop frameworks for analysis of linkages between biofuel production and land use, biodiversity and resource efficiency.

The EASAC Environment Programme has a steering panel of fifteen members appointed by the EU academies of science. The Environment Steering Panel meets twice yearly to advise on the environment programme plan of work