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 39

c enough for a
prognosis of their effects on the areas protected by the Habitats Directive to be
possible, then effects relevant to nature conservation are also to be assessed using the
framework of a Habitats Regulations Appraisal, in accordance with Art. 6 para. 3 of
the HD and Sections 34 and 36 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. For instance,
the interaction of a number of WFD measures or types of measure along an extended
river course, that mainly represents one Natura 2000 site, can be better assessed at a
higher planning level than at the next small-scale concrete level where measures are
implemented. The objects of assessment are the effects on protected habitat types
(Annex I HD) and species (Annex II and IV HD) (Wendler et al. 2012 , p. 62 et seq.).
The Habitats Regulation Appraisal was displaced to the next planning stage in
almost all environmental reports. In only two cases was there a preliminary
examination of the compatibility of the WFD measures with the objectives of the
potentially affected Natura 2000 sites. The Habitats Regulation Appraisal was thus
neither integrated in, nor linked to, the SEA for the PoM, but is for the most part to
be carried out subsequently in connection with the environmental impact assess-
ment of the planning approval procedure. This means that many of the necessary
agreements and the integration of the objectives of the WFD areas with those of the
Natura 2000 sites can only be undertaken at the time of project approval and not in
advance. There was made no strategic distinction between Natura 2000 sites which
protect natural processes and those which are conservation oriented on the level of
the PoM or for speci

If stipulations of the PoM are spatially and content wise speci

c water bodies. Subsequently the respective differences in
compatibility of these categories of Natura 2000 objectives with measures of
the PoM are not considered. It will be necessary to resolve con icts of this sort at

later planning stages, for instance through spatial separation and in certain cir-
cumstances the juxtaposition of naturally determined and culturally determined
areas (Stratmann et al. 2012c , p. 148).
With management planning being undertaken for the

fl

first time, it was found that
management plans with established objectives had not been finalised for numerous

Natura 2000 sites. This represented a further hindrance to the coordination of
Natura 2000 objectives with WFD activities. When the plans are next updated
and continued

it will be possible to use the objectives and
measures of the existing Natura 2000 management plans for coordination. An
attempt can be made to ensure that the WFD supports or integrates the measures
contained therein (Stratmann et al. 2012c , p. 148).

— from 2013 onwards —

3.3.2 Cooperation and Participation to Include Nature
Conservation in RBMP

In addition to the issues of content and method already discussed, the involvement
of nature conservation authorities and public participation can in

uence the inte-
gration of nature conservation matters into management planning. The following

fl