Productive needs and demand for protection: the complex issue of vulnerable areas

This paper aims to analyse, at a European level, the extent to which dispositions contained in Council Directive 91/676/CEE have been applied. The Directive aims to decrease water pollution directly or indirectly caused by nitrates from agricultural sources, and to prevent other similar pollution. The analysis considers the main pressure factors within the Member States, the state of their implementation at a European level and also puts forward suggestions which bear in mind the fact that Europe cannot give up its agricultural sector and that water is a limited resource which is necessary for human survival.