ter use, per unit, would increase substantially through the ability to target and tailor the application of water coupled with an improvement in crop strains. The greatest impact could be felt in the area of biotechnology, with the possibility of engineering more water-efficient cultures, and ICT, which would bring about more effective water use in agriculture. Improvements could also come from a greater acknowledge­ment of the need to better manage the role of "virtual wa­ter" (water used to produce products) and changes in crop production (in developing countries) and import patterns (in developed countries).
     Water use efficiency depends upon agricultural prac­tices and water management techniques. In agriculture the amount of fertilizers and animal manure applied often far exceed crop demands (Wolf et al., 2005). Nutrient surpluses cause problems for human beings, plants and animals. Ex­cesses or nutrient emissions to the environment are being reduced very slowly, inter alia through the implementation of the EU nitrate directive. In North America, in an increas­ing number of watersheds, water supply limits have already been exceeded. In the Midwest of the US, the Ogalallah aquifer in Kansas is overdrawn by 12 km3 each year. So far its depletion has caused 1.01 million ha of farmland to be taken out of cultivation.

Forestry
Forests: the services, goods and products they provide af­fect the daily lives of most, if not all citizens. Within EU-25, forests cover 140 millions ha, or about 36% of the land area. Europe's forests are extending in area, increasing in growth rate and expanding in standing volume due to un-der-exploitation. In EU-25, there are over 4 million people

directly or indirectly employed in forestry and forest-based industries, mainly in rural areas. Europe produces 28% of the world's paper supply and is a major operator in wood-based panels and engineered wood products; the contribu­tion of the forest sector accounts for 8% of Europe's added value (i.e., 600 billions euros). With five percent only of the world forest area, Europe produces 25-30% of the world production of forest-based products. The forestry sector's main asset is based on the renewable natural resources and the use, to a large extent, of environmentally-friendly pro­cesses. Forest-based industries are very efficient in recover­ing, reusing and recycling their materials and products, for the manufacturing of new products as well as for energy production. Rigorous life cycle assessments of forest prod­ucts have shown that they have a strong comparative ad­vantage vis-à-vis other materials. More utilization of forest biomass as a source for energy will be of high importance for a more environmentally-friendly energy secure, sustain­able Europe.

Fisheries and aquaculture
In a little more than half a century, the situation of the world fisheries has undergone dramatic change. After the Second World War, fishery landings quadrupled from 20 to 80Mt. This progression was due to the successive opening of new resources to exploitation and greater fishing capacities. In the 1970s and 1980s, the pace slowed down, and for the last two decades, world production has stagnated. Fleets are at over-capacity, and the states of many stocks are degraded. Since the 1970s, the proportion of overexploited stocks has been increasing, that of the under or moderately exploited stocks decreasing, and that of fully exploited stocks, largely