COMMON IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Working Group for the development of a Horizontal Guidance on the Role of Wetlands in the Water
Framework Directive
Status Box
Version No.: 1.0
Date: 18th February, 2003
Lead Country: Italy
Circulation and received comments
Version 1.0 was circulated to the drafting group members and presented at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on the 29/02/03, to which group members from the Commission, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Romania and Spain, as well as representatives from the EEB, EVALUWET and the WWF, participated. It was agreed during the meeting that group members would send to the group leader their comments and suggestions on the Table of Contents and Chapter II of Version 1.0. These comments have been integrated into the document.
Open points
The main open point for Chapter II is the description of wetlands.
FOREWORD
The EU Member States, Norway and the European Commission have jointly developed a common strategy for supporting the implementation of the Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (hereafter referred to as Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) for the Water Framework Directive (WFD)). The main aim of this strategy is to allow a coherent and harmonious implementation of this Directive. Focus is on methodological questions related to a common understanding of the technical and scientific implications of the Water Framework Directive.
One of the main short-term objectives of the strategy is the development of non-legally binding and practical guidance documents on various technical issues of the Directive. These guidance documents are targeted to those experts who are directly or indirectly implementing the Water Framework Directive in river basins. The structure, presentation and terminology is therefore adapted to the needs of these experts and formal, legalistic language is avoided wherever possible.
Why this Document?
The 1995 Commission Communication to the Council and the European Parliament on the Wise Use and Conservation of Wetlands, states that…
The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) is ambiguous as regards the status of wetlands. The Directive does not provide any specific definition of what is a wetland, nor does it clearly state to what extent should wetlands be considered for the achievement of environmental objectives. Still it is the purpose of the Directive to enhance and protect all surface water.
The Water Directors Meeting in November 2002 provided common text (cited in 1.1) to be inserted in Common Implementation Strategy guidance documents, in which the Directors acknowledge pressures on wetlands, highlight their potential important role in River Basin Management and in helping to achieve WFD environmental objectives, and recommend the preparation of a horizontal guidance on wetlands to implement these principles.
Support to the present document have been found in the Horizontal Guidance on Water Bodies established in order to provide additional guidance on the definition and protection of “water bodies” as intended by the Directive, and in the Guidance on Transitional and Coastal Waters. In parallel to these, the present document will provide a more specific definition of “wetland” and will interpret and provide guidance on what is to be the role of wetlands in the achievement of the environmental objectives of the WFD.
Participants to the discussion group and drafting process:
Austria: Birgit Vogel.
Belgium: Adelheid Vanhille
Commission: Marta Moren
Czech Republic: Jaroslav Kinkor, Jan Pokorny’, Pavel Punčochař,
Denmark: Ivan B. Karottki,
DG RTD- Ewaluwet Project:Edward Maltby
EEB: Ruth Davis
France: Marie-Francoise Bazerque, Marie-Claude Ximenes
Germany: Stephan Naumann
Hungary: Gabor Csörgits
Ireland: Jim Ryan
Italy: Rachel Bindless, Nicola Pacini, Giorgio Pineschi
Lithuania: Jonas Karpavicius
Netherlands: no official delegate
Romania: Valercia Grigoras, Madalina State
Slovakia: Jan Seffer, Contact: Eleonora Bartkova
Slovenia: Gabrijela Grèar
UK: no official delegate
WWFCharlie Avis
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Document
The following is the common text on wetlands agreed upon at the Water Directors Meeting in Copenhagen, November 2002.
Common text to be inserted in the guidance documents:
Wetland ecosystems are ecologically and functionally significant elements of the water environment, with potentially an important role to play in helping to achieve sustainable river basin management. The Water Framework Directive does not set environmental objectives for wetlands. However, wetlands that are dependent on groundwater bodies, form part of a surface water body, or are Protected Areas, will benefit from WFD obligations to protect and restore the status of water. Relevant definitions are developed in CIS horizontal guidance documents on water bodies and are further considered in a guidance on wetlands.
Pressures on wetlands (for example physical modification or pollution) can result in impacts on the ecological status of water bodies. Measures to manage such pressures may therefore need to be considered as part of river basin management plans, where they are necessary to meet the environmental objectives of the Directive.
Wetland creation and enhancement can in appropriate circumstances offer sustainable, cost-effective and socially acceptable mechanisms for helping to achieve the environmental objectives of the Directive. In particular, wetlands can help to:- abate pollution impacts , contribute to mitigating the effects of droughts and floods, help to achieve sustainable coastal management and to promote groundwater re-charge. The relevance of wetlands within programmes of measures is examined in the horizontal guidance paper on wetlands.
Following an initiative from some NGOs involved in the Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive, a drafting group composed of the delegates of several Member States (see above) has developed this draft horizontal guidance on wetlands to fulfil the mandate set by the Water Directors. The SCG will be invited to discuss the contents and agree on how to develop a shared understanding of this important issue, which will be significant for the future development of the Common Implementation Strategy process.
1.2 Purpose of Guidance
The purpose of the WFD in relation to wetlands as stated in Article 1 is unambiguous. Article 1 (a) states that the Directive will ‘establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwaters, which:
‘prevents further deterioration and protects and enhances the status of aquatic ecosystems and, with regard to their water needs, terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands directly depending on the aquatic ecosystems.’
This purpose will be supported through the application of the Directive’s environmental objectives, and possibly through the use of wetland protection and restoration to help fulfilling these objectives in a cost effective and sustainable manner. The mechanisms for this are outlined in the main body of the paper.
The need for a specific guidance on wetlands stems from the fact that wetlands are not included under the definition of water bodies nor are they specifically defined elsewhere in the WFD. Furthermore, the Directive does not set objectives for the management of wetlands as such.
As wetlands are a crosscutting issue, this guidance will elaborate a common understanding of the WFD requirements regarding wetlands and identify their role, particularly in relation to Article 11 (Programme of Measures).
1.3 Structure of guidance
The following section on the status of wetlands within the WFD brings forward a functional definition of wetlands coherent with WFD purposes (2.1) in agreement with the consideration of wetlands in the Directive and in other horizontal guidance documents with particular reference to the horizontal guidance on water bodies. Further, a distinction is made between wetlands which are parts of water bodies, those which are separate but functionally dependent on them and on groundwater (2.2), since dependent ecosystems are seen by the Directive as closely involved in the fulfilment of environmental objectives applied to surface and ground waters. The role of the connection between wetlands and other significant functional elements of the river basin is paramount (2.3). The establishment of hydraulic and functional relationships within river basins can lead to excessive administrative burden; this can be circumvented, under specific circumstances, by means of aggregation (2.4).
The WFD recognises the specific role of wetlands in achieving RB environmental objectives. Specific case studies illustrating their functional role will be reported in Chapter 3. Building on this past experience a further chapter proposes the consideration of wetland restoration and recreation as measures to be assessed among other technical means to prevent catchment degradation and the loss of environmental quality (Chapter 4). Unsustainable RBM practices typically based on wetland drainage have profoundly reduced the resilience of several catchments. In many cases wetland restoration is a viable trend reversal option that needs to be assessed in terms of full environmental cost recovery (4.1).
Given the theoretical background established above, technical annexes on methodological aspects for the monitoring of wetland resources and for the practical implementation of wetland restoration principles in RBM and within the Pilot River Basin exercise, will be elaborated after consultation with experts within the Wetland CIS Group.
2. THE STATUS OF WETLANDS WITHIN THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE
The challenge of arriving at a single, universal definition of wetlands has long been recognised in the scientific community:
‘…there is no single, correct, indisputable definition for wetlands, primarily because of the diversity of wetlands and because the demarcation between dry and wet environments lies along a continuum…’.
Cowardin et al. (1979)
Specifically, the problems of defining wetlands are the result of:
1) The extraordinary diversity of wetland ecosystem types.
2) Their variation along an often complex hydrological gradient between aquatic and terrestrial systems, and variations in water quality and climatic characteristics.
3) A wide range of sectoral perspectives and purpose of interests in regard to wetlands.
4) The varied national and international requirements associated with different legislation and jurisdictional implications.
Whilst the definition given by the Ramsar Convention is accepted by member states and demonstrates the broad range of distinctive wetland types, it also includes entire surface water bodies (e.g. lakes and rivers) as defined within the WFD. Therefore, it is essential within the WFD to recognise the more common generic characteristics of wetlands. Instead of attempting to define wetlands precisely, this paper proposes a description of wetlands which may assist in better understanding their place in the hydrological cycle. The term ‘wetlands’ is relatively new and has no easily translated equivalent in some European languages. Therefore, a clear, comprehensive description is required to facilitate communication within Europe, and specifically to clarify the role of wetlands in the implementation of the WFD.
In describing wetlands it is important to recognise not only their importance as wildlife habitats supporting species and communities of conservation importance, but also their range of functional capabilities associated with their intrinsic features. Their description should recognise the full range of characteristics which have important implications for implementation of the WFD.
Wetlands are heterogeneous but distinctive ecosystems in which particular ecological, biogeochemical and hydrological functions result from the dominance of water, its particular sources, chemistry and patters of inundation or saturation. They have characteristic soils and substrates together with biota adapted to flooding and/or waterlogged conditions. Wetlands would normally have at least two of the following attributes:
1) Water present either at the surface or in the root zone for prolonged or regular periods.
2) Distinctive soil properties developed under predominantly waterlogged conditions
3) Vegetation, if present, adapted to permanently, seasonally or periodically wet conditions (hydrophytes).
Wetlands can generate significant environmental benefits such as water quality improvement, hydrological regulation, food web support, and preservation of important environmental and cultural information. The capability results from their particular temporal and spatial patterns of hydrological regime together with other special wetland characteristics, such as distinctive plant and animal communities, ecosystems actively accumulating peat and the provision of seasonal spawning sites for fish. Wetlands have the ability to perform to a high capacity and regularly a range of processes and functions that in combination can result in the delivery of wider benefits significant for the welfare of people, wildlife and the maintenance of environmental quality.
Being part of a hydrological continuum, wetlands form an integral part of surface water bodies and as such can provide important functional benefits. When located at the interface between surface waters and terrestrial ecosystems they can function to protect surface waters by the removal of nutrients and pollutants. Additionally, wetlands can occur in landscape positions not directly contiguous with surface waters but where nevertheless, there may still be linkages through hydrological pathways which enable such wetlands to play an important role in the maintenance of ecological and chemical water quality. Wetland functioning is likely to be impaired where artificial separation has been created between wetlands and adjacent water bodies or where wetlands have become damaged and degraded by poor management or inappropriate land use.
Wetlands are important for flood attenuation; the water storage function of wetlands reduces flood heights and allows for groundwater recharge which in turn contributes to surface water systems through a sustained baseflow during drier periods. Through the storage and controlled release of water, wetlands reduce the erosive potential which can be brought about from floods and fast moving water flow which can occur after heavy precipitation. This can provide enormous benefits in terms of reduced economic costs related to property/land defence and maintenance, and in terms of reduced risks to human life. The slowing of water in the wetland allows sediment flocculation. Nutrients and pollutants accumulate in biomass and soil or are adsorbed to sediment particles in the wetland, improving water quality. Additionally, wetlands perform important functions for climate change mitigation, as water input to wetlands is returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. Carbon is stored in living and preserved plant biomass so reducing carbon release to the atmosphere. Shoreline erosion is controlled by plant roots, which anchor soil and sediments, absorbing wave action.
Apart from these functions, wetlands provide abundant habitat for flora and fauna and have aesthetic values. Economically valuable fish and shellfish activities as well as educational, recreational and tourism opportunities are provided by wetlands..
2.1 Description of Wetlands
According to the guideline for the identification of the typology of lakes provided by Annex II 1.2.2, aquatic ecosystems that are flooded at a depth greater than 2m for a significant yearly period (say longer than 3 months per year), are “lakes” and therefore are to be considered “water bodies” under the WFD.
On the other hand, wet terrestrial ecosystems which are characterised by a significant development of hydrophytic vegetation are to be considered as shallow wetlands even if not permanently flooded. These and other wetlands shallower than 2m, may be considered as “parts of water bodies” if hydrologically connected to rivers, lakes, transitional waters or coastal water. Most floodplain wetlands are functional parts of river systems and are therefore covered by WFD obligations.
In a similar way, the WFD provides for the protection of wetlands directly dependent and connected to groundwater since this connection may support ecological functions which may help in the achievement of environmental objectives.
Figure 1: Identifying wetlands among water bodies and wet terrestrial ecosystems
FIGURE TO BE DEVELOPED FURTHER
WATER
BODY
WETLAND
WET TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM
The diagram above provides a guidance for an identification of wetlands consistent with the WFD indications. Should an ecosystem be inundated deeper than 2m or should it achieve an open water for a significant period (such as 3 months per year or more) then it should be considered a WATER BODY. A shallower water surface, inundated for a less significant period (such as less than 3 months in a year) which is characterised by long-term saturated substrate condition which allow the development of hydrophytic vegetation is a WETLAND. An ecosystem which undergoes similar flooding but does not develop hydrophytic vegetation, is then a WET TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM.
2.2 Overview of Wetlands Functions
(Chapter to be further developed)
Physiological processes and resulting ecological functions and values of wetlands
evapotranspiration – process of solar energy dissipation via water latent heat
(climate change mitigation and “anti-continental” effect on local climate through)
photosynthesis - CO2 sequestration - carbon accumulation in biomass and in organic matter rich anoxic water logged soil
(green house effect mitigation)
Nutrient uptake - accumulation in biomass and in soil
(water purification)
Pollutants accumulation. There are higher precipitations in large wetlands and therefore higher depositions of nutrients and pollutants
(landscape kidney)
Flood control (water retention in landscape)
Ground water replenishment
Shoreline stabilisation and storm protection
Sediment retention
Reservoirs of biodiversity
Wetland products
Recreation and Tourism
Cultural value
Principles of monitoring of wetland (landscape) ecological functions
Evapotranspiration from wetlands results in a lower temperatures, namely in low diel temperature fluctuations. Solar energy dissipates mostly via latent heat (evaporation – condensation) less energy is released as sensible heat.
Matter losses from functioning wetlands (or from functioning monitored landscape) are small. Matter = base cations (K, Ca, Mg) soluble organic carbon. Nitrogen and phosphorus are present mostly in several orders magnitude lower concentrations than cations.
Degradation of wetlands associated with mineralisation of organic rich soil results in matter losses increase.
1)Relationship between precipitation rate in a given river basin and water outflow from the river basin (hydrograph) indicates water retention capacity
2) temperature fluctuation (daily maximum and minimum) and temperature differences among different places (biotopes) in a landscape indicates their cooling capacity (evapotranspiration – condensation). Satellite pictures in infrared band (Landsat) can be used.