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 44

Climate change can result in changes in habitats (e.g. for salmonids) and biocenoses
in watercourses and lakes (e.g. through invasive species). This can in the long-term
lead to a change in the reference conditions away from those laid out in the
inventory. Clear conclusions can, however, not yet be drawn. Climate change sce-
narios forecast changes in the precipitation regime. This would then change runoff
hydrographs with consequences for watercourses, and lead to longer periods of dry-
weather runoff conditions, longer periods of high runoff in winter and more frequent
fl

flooding events (Wendler et al. 2012 , p. 55). Investigation of the consequences for
aquatic biocenoses has hardly begun (Wulfhorst 2010 , p. 89).
A further connection between management planning and nature conservation
objectives is to be found with the issue of the protection and development of zones
where cold and fresh air is produced. The presence and effectiveness of these zones
depend partly on the distribution of water-dependent ecosystems, i.e. from surface
water bodies and water-dependent terrestrial ecosystems. These zones are particu-
larly important in the context of adaptation to climate change because even in
adverse weather conditions they provide pollution-free, fresh air for polluted set-
tlement areas and can prevent the overheating of urban regions. If water-dependent
ecosystems become dryer, then it is to be expected that their potential for climatic
balancing will also decline (Wendler et al. 2012 , p. 55 et seq.).

3.4 Recommendations for Integrating Climate Change
in RBMP

In the first river basin management planning documents, climate change was

addressed only seldom in most cases mentioned as a potential threat. But within the
second planning cycle until 2015 climate change shall be integrated systematically.
Therefore, the following recommendations can be given from the perspective of
nature conservation (cf. Stratmann et al. 2012a , p. 305 et seq.):

1. Adjusting reference conditions for water bodies and methods for status assess-
ment. Aspects of climate change should be included when assessing the status of
water bodies. This should involve the adjustment of climate scenarios for use in
the river basin, parameters for monitoring the water-related effects of climate
change being incorporated in the monitoring programme, the adjustment

— where

c reference conditions, and the adjustment of
status assessment methods. This will create a basis for further planning of
objectives and measures that enable climate protection and the effects of climate
change to be considered in an integrated manner. This will then allow the for-
mulation of effective measures that are win-win and no regret in terms of climate
change.
2. Adjusting risk assessments for groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems. At
the moment water extraction that has continued at a constant rate over many
years is not further monitored in Germany for instance. Climate change can,

necessary — of water type speci