6
Minutes of meeting of the Working Group
on Estuaries and adjacent Coastal Zones
14/3/2008
Brussels
The agenda of the meeting and the attendance list are attached in Annex I
All presentations can be found on the CIRCA site (http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/env/estuary/home)
1.1 Purpose of meeting
The purpose of the meeting was to finalise the Terms of Reference of the Working Group on “Estuaries and adjacent Coastal Zones” on the task of elaborating a guidance document on the implementation of the EU nature legislation and the Water Framework Directive in estuaries and coastal zones, with particular attention to port-related activities and dredging.
1.2 Main discussion items and presentations
The Chairman, Mr. François Kremer from DG ENV, opened the meeting in recalling the conclusions of the 1st meeting of the Expert Group on Estuaries held in Brussels on the 24th of January 2007. The “Expert Group on Estuaries” is now called “Working Group on Estuaries and adjacent Coastal Zones” and the proposed task till the end of 2008 will be to elaborate a guidance document on the implementation of the EU nature legislation and the Water Framework Directive in estuaries and adjacent coastal zones, with particular attention to port-related activities and dredging. Today’s meeting (14th of March 2008) aimed at the initiation of the development of the guidance document with the assistance of the Working Group and the EC’s external consultant, Ecosphere.
Mrs. Fotini Xenogianni from Ecosphere, presented the background and scope of the guidance document, as well as the working plan (methodology, future steps, time planning). The document will provide guidance on the implementation of the EU nature legislation and the Water Framework Directive in estuaries and adjacent coastal zones, with particular attention to port-related activities and dredging. It was emphasized that the Working Group will contribute to the EC commitment to issue guidelines on the application of the relevant Community environmental legislation to port development but not cover this whole aspect. More precisely, the guidance document will only clarify the issue stated in COM-2007-616: “legal uncertainty was mainly claimed by stakeholders in relation to the Birds and Habitats Directives”.
The guidance document will finally focus on the requirements of the Birds and Habitats. Guidance will be given on how to implement the WFD in Natura 2000 sites. Some general guidance will be given for the requirements of the Marine Strategy and Floods Assessment and Management Directives. Air emissions, waste, energy and environmental quality standards policies will not be included unless absolutely necessary.
The suggested thematic areas to be covered by the guidance document include: (i) guidance on technical conservation issues (including issues related to conservation status of species and habitats, conservation objectives and monitoring systems), (ii) guidance on planning and integrated management approaches, (iii) guidance on new projects, mitigation and compensation. Review of good practice examples will deliver key information for the 3 thematic areas. Many case studies were suggested (both from NW Europe and the Mediterranean) and can be found in the Terms of Reference.
The guidance will not be a legal document. It will provide guidance to questions raised by stakeholders and a review of best practice examples. It will be no more that 60-80 pages. The Working Group will have to meet again twice, once on the 30th of June and once in late autumn. The CIRCA platform will be the main communication tool between the members of the Working Group. All member’s information and contributions (position papers, scientific publications, case studies, suggested bibliography) should be initially sent to Ecosphere, and should thereafter be uploaded to the CIRCA platform.
Mrs. Jan Brook from the WFD Navigation Task Group suggested that the title of the Terms of Reference should be redrafted in order to clarify that the guidance document is aimed at “Natura 2000 estuaries and adjacent coastal zones” and that the guidance will be given on how to implement the WFD in Natura 2000 areas and not in all estuarine and adjacent coastal areas. This point was accepted by the EC. Mrs. Jan Brook also suggested that within the scope of the guidance document the Priority Substances Directive (Daughter Directive of the WFD) should be taken into account because it will introduce Environmental Quality Standards.
Mr. Roger Morris from Natural England noticed that estuaries’ geomorphologic characteristics in the Mediterranean are very different from those in the North Sea because of the difference in tidal influence. He suggested that these two dimensions should be considered in the guidance document. For example, such variability in physical conditions could require different management approaches. Mr Frank Neumann from the PARALIA project supported this point of view and added that inflexible rules or guidance should be avoided. Mr Neumann also suggested providing case studies in integrated management, as well as cross border management of estuaries.
Mr. Marc Thauront from Ecosphere, presented the 1st thematic area of the guidance document on technical conservation issues. This part of the document will include the definitions of estuarine, marine and coastal habitats concerned, an overview of the different types of estuaries in the EU, their driving forces and the variability of their ecological parameters. Guidance will also be given on how to establish conservation objectives in Natura 2000 estuaries and adjacent coastal zones and which tools to use for surveillance and monitoring. Guidance on how to consider thresholds for the ecological, geomorphological and physical processes will also be provided. Mr Thauront noted that estuaries are dynamic geographical units and presented 3 distinguishable levels of their evolutionary process i.e. ria, estuaries with strong tidal influence and deltas with tidal influence mainly along the coast line. The distribution of estuarine habitats in Europe was also presented according the Natura 2000 database (only looking at 1130 habitat). It was clear that the majority of the estuaries were found in the Atlantic biogeographical region covering 73 % of the European estuarine surface. Second comes the Mediterranean with 15 % coverage and third the Baltic region with 7%. It was noted that physical conditions are very different in these biogeographical regions as in the last two we have low or very low tides and therefore the sedimentation processes vary significantly. This is a factor to be considered when developing the management part of the guidance document. In addition, estuaries comprise functional units because of the species functional needs and the conservation objective should be to maintain these functions. The ‘favourable conservation status’ mentioned in Article 2.2 of the HD will better be explained with the results of the Article 17 report through which a common methodology is used at EC level to characterise conservation status at biogeographical and national levels. Synergies will be explained between the WFD and nature directives and links will be found between the ‘good ecological status’ and ‘favourable conservation status’ especially for transition areas, wetlands, freshwater habitats and species. Guidance on monitoring will be given following the existing legal obligations, the overviews of Member States proposals and case studies of European estuaries. Qualitative guidance will be given on how to consider thresholds for the ecological, geomorphological and physical processes. Gaps of knowledge will also be assessed.
Mrs. Jan Brook from the WFD Navigation Task Group suggested to ensure alignment between the N2K conservation objectives and the WFD objectives of good ecological status (GES) or good ecological potential (GEP) specifically for the designated “Heavily Modified Water Bodies” which can include Natura 2000 sites. In terms of surveillance and monitoring, the WFD has certain ecological monitoring requirements that could be taken into account.
Professor Patrick Meire from the University of Antwerp proposed not to give that much emphasis on the typology of the estuaries because they are very complex systems and this will lead to an endless exercise. He added that these estuaries are of dynamic nature and essential functions and processes should be examined and taken into account, especially when setting conservation objectives. It was generally agreed that the conservation objective is to conserve the ecological and physical functions whilst taking into consideration all socio-economic objectives.
Mr. Marc Thauront presented the second part of the guidance document related to planning and integrated management approaches. He emphasised that management could become difficult within an estuarine area because it can provide multiple socio-economic opportunities and therefore attracts a great variety of stakeholders (port authorities, fishermen, naturalists, etc). Each of these groups of stakeholders has their own objectives that can sometimes become antagonistic. The solution would be this antagonism to be converted into synergies through careful planning and integrated management. An integrated management approach should consider the objectives of the Bird and Habitat Directive, the WFD, the Floods Directive but should also take into account management plans for maintenance and capital dredging and other plans or projects related to port infrastructure development or spatial planning projects in general. Potential tools that could assist on developing an integrated management approach comprise the ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zones Management) which may be subject to an SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment).
Mrs. Jan Brook from the WFD Navigation Task Group proposed to refer to River Basin management plans, which will also include coasts and estuaries and which are required to be prepared for all river basin districts (many of which are international) in draft by the end of 2008.
Mr. Frank Neumann from the PARALIA project noticed that climatic changes should be taken into account when developing a management plan for an estuarine area and maybe problems should be considered within a timeframe of 100 years because evolutionary processes are fairly rapid for the specific habitat types.
Mr. François Xicluna from the Port of Rouen proposed to also consider the work developed through the GEODE project (Groupe d’Etudes et d’Observation sur le Dragage et l’Environnement) that could provide good case examples in port dredging with respect to the environment. Many documents have been published from the GEODE Group (1. Maintenance dredging of navigation channels in French estuaries, 2. Evaluation of dredging incidents with respect to the Natura 2000 areas. 3. Recommendations for good dredging practices, etc) and these should be uploaded to the CIRCA.
Mrs. Fotini Xenogianni from Ecosphere presented the third part of the guidance document and discussed how to deal with new plans or projects and mitigation and compensation issues. All guidance documents previously developed from the EC on the Habitats Directives (guidance on article 6, on article 6.3 and 6.4 on article 6.4 separately, on how to manage Natura 2000 areas, on strict protection of animal species, on the establishment of a Natura 2000 network in the marine environment) were presented and the stakeholders were asked if more guidance is needed in terms of impact assessment, mitigation, compensation etc. It was suggested to include mitigation and compensation success stories and other case studies where such approaches were rejected in the new guidance document.
Mrs. Jan Brook from the WFD Navigation Task Group suggested to also consider the Article 4.7 of the WFD guidance for new modifications or new sustainable human development activities which are likely to affect the water status.
Mr. Andrew Dodd from the RSPB proposed to send many articles and case studies from the UK on mitigation and habitat banking. These should be uploaded to the CIRCA.
Mr. Frank Neumann from the Institute of Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation, presented the PARALIA Nature project that aims to improve the implementation of the Habitats and Birds Directives (HD and BD) requirements at a level of projects and management plans. The results of the project during Phase 1-3 (2000-2007) were: (i) the clarification of the requirements of the procedures stated in article 6.3 and 6.4 of the HD, (ii) the comparison of species management and habitat protection outside the protected zones in different countries, (iii) a report on project level implications of EU jurisprudence, (iv) discussion of habitat and mitigation banking, (v) development of the NEW!Delta project.
Mr Neumann continued with the presentation of the NEW!Delta project (NWE INTERREG IIIb project) which involved ten partners from different European countries i.e. from France, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. The aim of the project was to strike a new balance between ports and nature, promoting the sustainable development of port-related activities in NW European estuaries and coasts, in balance with the European Natura 2000 network. In brief, the results of the NEW!Delta project presented were: (i) the gain of experience through the implementation of restoration measures in port areas (Antwerp) and in dune systems (DE ZILK/ The Netherlands), (ii) the development of a checklist for dredging in perspective of article 6.3 and 6.4, (iii) a thorough overview of the implementation of the HD in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK, (iv) a set up of database with case studies and policy information, (v) an overview of long term estuary visions.
Mr Neumann concluded with Phase IV of the PARALIA project which is currently being implemented. Experience will be exchanged at project level regarding the development of integrated management plans, article 4 case studies related to port development will be gathered, implications of obligations regarding other directives (i.e. flood and risk directive) and of key European Jurisprudence will be examined. The PARALIA project will contribute to the development of the guidance document by providing: (i) illustrations of best practice from a multidisciplinary viewpoint at project level, (ii) input of project level implications of EU jurisprudence, (iii) input regarding legal and organisational aspects of cross-border situation in estuary management and (iv) input from stakeholder discussions at European level from a project perspective.
Mrs Caroline Freitag presented the TIDE project (INTERREG IVC) that aims to establish an innovative approach for integrated management of European estuaries with strong tidal influence. The project will focus on European estuaries functioning as shipping channels with strong tidal influence causing considerable sediment transportation, making maintenance dredging extremely challenging. The estuaries to be examined will be the ones containing Natura 2000 areas. The expected results of the project are: (i) a strategy development in order to achieve a win-win effect for all stakeholders, (ii) an enhanced comprehension of cause-effect relationships, (iii) development of estuary networking to continuously improve estuary management, (iv) definition of research needs, (v) provision of flexible management approaches in order to ensure future economic growth and safeguard the estuarine uniqueness of tidal estuaries. In total, 14 partners will participate in the project’s implementation from five different countries (Germany, Belgium, France and the UK) and from five estuaries (Elbe, Weser, Scheldt, Seine and Humber). If approved, the project will start in autumn 2008 and will last 36 months.