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 45

however, lead to alterations in groundwater levels and runoff from watercourses
that over time result in signi cant damage to groundwater-dependent terrestrial

ecosystems. It is thus recommended that the next phase of management planning
should include more careful consideration of climate change when carrying out
risk assessments for groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems.
3. Adjusting strategies for goal attainment and management objectives. When
formulating strategies for goal attainment and aligning management objectives,
attention should be paid to further aspects relevant to nature conservation, e.g.
climate change and

flood protection. These should occur early in the planning
process. The timely integration of nature conservation objectives within the
frame of coordinated management and measures planning allows to simulta-
neously achieve these nature protection objectives. If the relevant background
documents are clearly named and easily available, then it is probable that the
stated objectives will be successfully integrated into further planning stages,
particularly the stipulation of measures.
4. Adjusting calculations of the environmental costs of water uses. The effects of
climate change on the hydrological regime should be included in the baseline
scenario on the basis of up-to-date (regionalised) climate forecasts. As climate
change effects can vary in strength according to region, it will probably be
necessary to use regionally differentiated adjustments for individual river basins.
If regionally significant climate change effects occur, it may be necessary to
reassess the environmental costs of water uses, because these may need to be
differently measured if water supply changes. In addition, changed climatic
conditions may have an in

fl

uence, e.g. on the setting of environmental objec-
tives, on the prioritisation of measures from a nature conservation perspective
and on the planning of measures overall.
5. Conduct a climate check for measures. The process by which measures for the
programme of measures are chosen should include a climate check based on up-
to-date regionalised climate forecasts, to ensure that measures are primarily
chosen that for the area in question have positive effects in terms of climate
change and protection (win-win) or that will be effective under the in

fl

uence of
different climatic developments (no regret). Such a climate check is recom-
mendable because WFD measures should also be effective over the medium to
long-term. Measures should thus be chosen that are also effective under changed
climatic conditions. This can indirectly ensure that intended synergies with
nature conservation also come into effect under the in

fl

uence of climate change.
The adaptation of aquatic habitats to changed climatic conditions can thus, under
the auspices of nature conservation, be particularly encouraged. The German
Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (Die Bundesregierung 2008 ), for
instance, demands for surface waters that

fl

their continuity and diversity of

“

structure be increased and fl floodplains be regained and reinvigorated. Appro-

…

priate measures ( ed and implemented in cooperation with

the authorities responsible for nature conservation, agriculture and water man-
agement and land users

) should be intensi

(Die Bundesregierung 2008 , p. 27). Furthermore cli-
mate protection measures should be preferentially selected (e.g. conservation and

”