Pérennité de la ressource en eau : politique de protection applliquée à un gisement hydrominéral

Le gisement hydrominéral d'Evian bénéficie d'une protection géologique naturelle exceptionnelle. Sa localisation, sa géométrie, ses caractéristiques externes et intrinsèques assurent à l'eau minérale d'Evian le respect des critères de stabilité physico-chimique et de pureté microbiologique. Afin de pérenniser les qualités de ce gisement et de conserver les caractéristiques originelles de l'eau minérale d'Evian, la Société des Eaux Minérales d'Evian (SAEME) a engagé dans les années 80, une réflexion sur les moyens à mettre en oeuvre. Cette réflexion basée sur une connaissance approfondie de la ressource hydrominérale, sur des études hydrologiques, socio-agronomiques, environnementales et pour ces dernières menées en collaboration avec l'INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), a conduit la SAEME à promouvoir une politique adaptée, dynamique, et novatrice. Le versant lémanique du gisement est le siège en grande profondeur et sous la couverture morainique, de la circulation de l'eau minérale et du lieu d'émergence des sources Evian. Le maintien et le renforcement de cette protection naturelle sont assurés depuis 1929, par un périmètre de protection associé a une déclaration d'intérêt publique de la source Cachat Sud. Ce périmètre est en cours d'extension sur plus de 1 600 hectares. En complément de ce cadre réglementaire, la SAEME a développé dans la zone d'infiltration une politique partenariale en créant des 1992 l'Association pour la Protection de l'lmpluvium des Eaux Minérales d'Evian (APIEME). Cette association regroupe les communes situées sur l'impluvium (Saint-Paul-en-Chablais, Féternes, Vinzier, Champanges, Larringes, Bernex, Marin, et Thollon-les-Mémises), les communes bénéficiant d'émergence, les représentants de l'Administration et la SAEME. Elle a pour vocation la définition et l'aide au financement des aménagements et des pratiques jugées utiles a une meilleure protection : son financement est assuré au deux tiers par la SAEME et pour un tiers par les communes jouissant d'émergences (Evian, Publier, Neuvecelle, et Maxilly). Le mode d'occupation du sol souligne le caractère preservé de la zone d'impluvium avec plus de 90 % de surface occupée par la forêt, les prairies, et les zones humides, l'activité agricole s'appuie sur l'élevage laitier au sein de deux AOC fromagères (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée que sont le Reblochon, et l'Abondance). L'APIEME a mis en œuvre deux axes d'actions, un axe d'actions pour la protection et l'amélioration de l'environnement, à partir de l'aménagement territorial des communes, de la préservation et de la réhabilitation des zones humides, de la gestion des risques inhérents à la population ou encore du lancement d'un S.A.G .E. (Schéma d'aménagement et de gestion de l'eau). Le deuxième axe a consisté à mener des actions dans le domaine agricole en collaboration avec la Chambre d'Agriculture et le Syndicat d'lntérêt Collectif Agricole (SICA) en permettant un soutien à une agriculture forte mais respectueuse de l'environnement. Cette politique a permis de mettre en place un code de bonnes pratiques encadrant la mise aux normes des bâtiments d'élevage, une répartition équilibrée des intrants d'origine agricole, la suppression de phytosanitaires et d'engager un dialogue constant pour l'amélioration des pratiques agricoles. Issue de cette réflexion et de la prise en compte des caractéristiques hydrodynamiques du gisement, la SAEME a completé ce dispositif par la mise en oeuvre d'un Observatoire : Outil de gestion de la politique basé sur l'agrégation et l'interprétation de paramètres environnementaux (physiques et chimiques), socio-agronomiques, démographiques, d'aménagement territorial, etc...permettant de qualifier le signal d'entrée du système hydrominéral

Outcomes of the second workshop of the Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table Working Group 1: deriving scientifically-sound rules for a sector-specific environmental assessment methodology

Purpose This paper illustrates the consensus achieved by the members of the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table Working Group 1 in their second scientific workshop held in the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) site of Ispra, Italy on July 5th-7th, 2011. This workshop came after having run a detailed analysis of data and methodologies for assessing the environmental performance of food and drink products. In particular, the aim of this workshop was to reach consensus amongst key stakeholders on those approaches found diverging across methodologies and on which the forthcoming Protocol for the ENVIronmental assessment of FOOds and Drinks (ENVIFOOD Protocol) is expected to provide guidance to the sector. Methods Almost thirty Round Table members joined the workshop. Most of them were representatives from business associations associated with the food and drink supply chain and their member companies, EU member state governments, government-supported initiatives on environmental labelling schemes, NGOs, and The Sustainability Consortium. A pool of selected senior scientists on food LCA, data and environmental impact assessment methods from academia were also invited to join the workshop and actively contributed to the discussion. Several European Commission staff members also participated in the workshop. A pre-analysis of key existing guidelines and the Guiding Principles for voluntary environmental assessment and communication agreed by the Food Round Table members provided the basis for the workshop. Besides two plenary sessions, one at the beginning of the workshop to introduce the topics and one in the end to draw conclusions, those approaches where consensus is missing across environmental assessment methodologies were analysed in three ad hoc break-out sessions over the two days. Results and conclusions Functional unit equal to 100g or ml in the context of those assessments instrumental to Business-to-Consumer (B2C) communication, and clear identification of a reference flow (instead of a functional unit) for those assessments conducted for Business-to-Business (B2B) communication are just a few recommendations coming out from the workshop. These and many other approaches on calculation rules, data quality and impact assessment were agreed by Round Table members. These will be likely integrated into the ENVIFOOD Protocol. Despite the workshop was relatively successful in terms of consensus achieved, some issues still remained. Round Table members are continuing the discussion inside the working group 1 drafting group to address those issues where no consensus was reached (e.g. system boundary for assessments instrumental to Business-to-Consumer (B2C) communication) or where a more in-depth background analysis was needed (e.g. accounting for land use change, allocation for recycling). A public consultation will be run in 2012 to ensure that the coming ENVIFOOD Protocol is both scientifically sound and practical to implement.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

The European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table Working Group 1 Workshop - Towards the ENVIFOOD Protocol: deriving scientifically-sound rules from exisiting methodological alternatives - Summary Report

Members of the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table (Food RT) are committed to helping consumers and other stakeholders to make informed choices by providing them with accurate and understandable information on relevant product characteristics, including environmental performance. In the framework of the Food RT, Working Group 1 (WG1) is currently developing the ENVIFOOD Protocol for assessing the environmental issues of food and drink products due to the proliferation of standards and guidance documents on this subject. The main purpose of the Protocol is the development of a common framework facilitating that environmental assessments are scientifically reliable and consistent in supporting informed choice. In particular, this will support environmental assessments conducted in the context of business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer communication, and the identification of environmental improvement options. WG1 elaborated a Road Map for the development and dissemination of the Protocol. Major tasks in this document by the end of 2011 are: detailed analysis of data and methodological aspects; Protocol drafting; public consultation and revision. The detailed analysis has been recently completed. As the Protocol is expected to be built on the existing science for the environmental assessment of food and drink products, rather than inventing a new methodology from scratch, this analysis has scanned relevant: • General and sector-specific methodologies and guidance documents on the environmental assessment of food and drink; • Datasets related to food and drink products. Moving from the key findings of the detailed analysis to the actual Protocol development, the principal aim of this workshop was to identify specific methodological approaches to be recommended and incorporated in the Protocol. The workshop was structured as follows: • An introductory plenary session to underline the workshop expectations and illustrate the key findings of the detailed analysis on the existing and upcoming methodologies for assessing the environmental performance of food and drink products; • Three break-out sessions to analyse those methodological approaches where consensus is needed; • A closing plenary session for letting break-out session chairs reporting back to the plenary the agreement achieved in each individual break-out session and confirm such approaches. Contributions to the two-days workshop have been summarised in this technical report. Contents are presented in this document by following the same chronological order as in the final agenda of the workshop (see section 2). Comments and suggestions made by participants in each break-out session have been also included in this report.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

ENVIFOOD Protocol: launch of the collectively-agreed sectorial methodology for assessing the environmental performance of food and drink products in Europe

The uncoordinated application of methodologies and guidelines for assessing and labeling the environmental performance of food and drink products has the potential to confuse consumers and other stakeholders involved in the food and drink supply chains. Furthermore, it poses an unnecessary burden on those organizations requested to evaluate the environmental performance of their product according to several different methodologies. In order to address this issue, business associations and other food supply chain partners have involved the European Commission in establishing the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Round Table. Since 2009, Round Table members have been working on equal footing on a commonly-agreed and science-based framework for assessment and communication of food and beverage products in Europe. The first milestone was reached in 2010 when Round Table members agreed on a set of principles to guide working groups in harmonizing relevant approaches for assessment and communication. On this basis, the Round Table working group 1 reached agreement on key methodological aspects for environmental assessment at a scientific workshop in 2010. A detailed analysis of relevant data, methodologies and guidelines for assessing the environmental performance of foods and drinks was conducted following the 2010 workshop. This analysis identified aspects of LCA practice where existing methodologies agree, as well as inconsistencies among existing approaches. A second scientific workshop was organized in 2011 to reach consensus on the outstanding inconsistencies. Remaining unresolved issues were further discussed within working group 1, leading up to the release of an advanced draft of what will be the future Round Table methodology for environmental assessment named ENVIFOOD Protocol. A public consultation scheduled during spring 2012 will be followed by the publication of the ENVIFOOD Protocol version 1 in summer 2012. In parallel to the version 1 development, the ENVIFOOD Protocol will be tested through a range of pilot studies and the feedback out of this task will be used for fine-tuning the guidance and coming out with the version 2. The ENVIFOOD Protocol provides guidance to support those environmental assessments of food and drink products in Europe conducted in the context of: • Business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer communication (focus of the Food RT Working Group 2); • The identification of environmental improvement options (focus of the Food RT Working Group 3). This paper gives a general overview of the ENVIFOOD Protocol in terms of scope, relationship with other methodologies and recommendations. In particular, recommendations on calculation rules, data, and impact assessment are presented and briefly discussed. Besides the general framework of the Protocol, this paper also illustrates the possible next steps of the Round Table working group 1. Round Table members are, in fact, discussing how to develop and adopt Product Category Rules (PCR) in line with the ENVIFOOD Protocol. In parallel, Round Table members are also discussing how to obtain adequate data for assessment and streamlined tools. The establishment of the ENVIFOOD Protocol and PCRs will allow the development of user-friendly and affordable tools for assessment and communication of environmental impacts, thus drastically alleviating SMEs from the disproportionate burden of such assessments.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen