European water policy and research on water-related topics – An overview

•Overview of the EU water policy framework and climate change adaptation policy trends.•Snapshot of EU-funded research projects in the area of water and climate change.•Science-policy interfacing needs.

SummaryEuropean water policy developments are essentially linked to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and parent legislation, which is built upon the principle of river basin management planning with the objective of achieving good status for all European water bodies. Recent policy developments in the climate change area call for ‘climate proofing’ of EU actions through mainstreaming of adaptation measures into policies and programmes. These policy trends are very closely related to the capacity to get access to supporting scientific information and to bridge the knowledge gap. This paper is about these features, serving as an introduction to the special issue of Journal of Hydrology on climatic change impact on water: overcoming data and science gaps.