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 33

Various national and international institutions (international river basin com-
missions, transboundary water commissions, national river basin associations) have
been tasked with the coordination of plans (Posselt et al. 2012 , p. 76). The aim of
coordination is to draw up a management plan, including the PoM that contains
binding speci

cations for all management measures and decisions within the river
basin district (Ell 2003 , p. 72; Spillecke 2000 , p. 32). In order to achieve this, the
specialist quality goals are aligned at the beginning of the planning process. This is
ensured by a bottom-up approach in which responsible state authorities commu-
nicate results gathered, prepared and evaluated at the level of the district in question
to the coordinating authorities (LAWA 2001 , p. 10; Knopp 2005 , pp. 25 26). This

is at the same time associated with constant generalisation owing to the decreasing
scale of perspective (Ell 2003 , p. 71).

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3.3 Implementation of RBMP in Protected Areas

The following discussion clari es how protected areas are integrated into man-

agement and measures planning in Germany and what effects the programmes of
measures can have on the protected areas. The section concludes with consideration
of the environment assessment instruments: Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA) and Habitat Regulations Appraisal (HRA).

3.3.1 Consideration of Protected Areas in the Implementation
of RBMP

Evaluation of management plans and PoMs has shown that the requirements and
goals of protected areas, particularly the Natura 2000 sites, are affected in many
ways by management planning.

Determining and mapping protected areas in the first cycle of management
planning

￿

With reference to the Habitats Directive, there are various opinions about which
areas should be included in the list of protected areas in WFD management plans.
Several authors include not only those areas protected under European law (Natura
2000 sites) but also elements of the biotope network (Art. 10 HD) and areas
protected under national law that serve to protect

species listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive (Korn et al. 2005 ; Fuchs et al.
2010 ). In contrast, for instance, the German Working Group on Water Issues of the
Federal States and the Federal Government (LAWA 2003 ) speci

— based on Article 12 of the HD —

es that only all

formally identi ed Natura 2000 sites should be considered.