Can Natura 2000 Sites Benefit from River Basin Management Planning Under a Changing Climate? Lessons from Germany - Wetlands and Water Framework Directive: Protection, Management and Climate Change - page 30

status. In doing so, spatial overlapping of nature conservation goals and of goals of
the WFD is recognised within many floodplains and wetlands in Europe. The

question arises: To what extent a content-related coordination of overlapping goals
of nature conservation and WFD has been carried out within the

fl

first planning
phase until the end of 2009. Such coordination seems reasonable to avoid con icts

between measures of the WFD and aims of nature conservation areas as well as to
use synergy potentials speci

fl

cally. The integration of climate change in the river
basin management planning according to WFD and in the management planning for
Natura 2000 areas is increasingly meaningful. This applies particularly to the
current phase of up-dating of plans and programmes in accordance with WFD until
the end of 2015. For current and future planning activities it is important to assess
how the goals of WFD, of nature conservation and of climate change adaptation and
mitigation were integrated into the plans and programmes till now.
Therefore, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has commis-
sioned a research project regarding the assessment of the river basin management
plans (RBMP) and programmes of measures (PoM) in the German river basin
districts in view of the consideration of aspects of nature conservation. The project
is entitled

“

Implementation of the WFD from the Perspective of Nature Conser-

— ”

vation (FKZ 3509 83 0100)

and was conducted by the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional
Development (IOER) in cooperation with the Chair of Landscape Planning at the
Technische Universit

Analysis of the River Basin Management Planning

t Dresden (Albrecht et al. 2012 ). The project focused on
identifying the overlap between river basin management planning and nature
conservation and included the assessment of the plans with regard to the consid-
eration of nature conservation aspects. Recommendations for the optimal integra-
tion of nature conservation into the planning documents in the future were given.
The project revealed important knowledge regarding the content and procedure of
planning as well as the consideration of the aims of nature conservation, especially
in Natura 2000 sites. The

ä

findings will be reported in the following article and are
intended to be used in the second planning period.
The following essay is subdivided into three sections. At

first the river basin
management planning is introduced as a planning instrument for the attainment of
the aims of the WFD. In this chapter, the contents of the RBMP and the PoM and
the different levels of planning in accordance with WFD are explained (Sect. 3.2 ).
The second section explains the implementation of river basin management plan-
ning within protected areas. Therefore, the consideration of protected areas
throughout the implementation of the WFD is described in detail, and cooperation
and participation means for the integration of conservation aspects into river basin
management planning are introduced (Sect. 3.3 ). Then it is examined how the goals
of the WFD can be accomplished even under the in fl uence of a changing climate. In

ful lling this task, opportunities in the context of the scheduled planning instru-

ments and steps are discussed and recommendations given (Sect. 3.4 ). Finally,
conclusions are drawn and an outlook on future implementation is given (Sect. 3.5 ).