Federal Inland Waterways in Germany Traffic routes and habitats Kai Schaefer

1. Federal Inland Waterways in Germany Traffic routes and habitats Kai Schaefer Engineer for Landscape Planning Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, GermanyDirectorate Waterways and Shipping Unit WS 14 - Climate change mitigation and Environmental protection, Hydrology -

2. Outline:Traffic route - Significance of the waterways and task of the waterway administrationHabitat- Requirements of Natura 2000 and Water Framework DirectiveRisks and Opportunities- What can the waterway administration do?Outlook

3. German waterways: • Part of the European network (EU 30.000 km, GER 7.300 km) • Basis for economic growth and international competitiveness • Cost effective import and export condition for the German and European industry

4. Significance of the waterways • Rivers fulfil a variety of functions and have to cope with the most different user requirements • It must be our common task to show ways and means of facilitating the consensual use of rivers as habitat, economic area and transport mode • In this respect, full advantage is to be made of the benefits of inland waterway shipping- i.e. low-cost, environmentally friendly, safe and low-noise

5. Significance of the waterways • The goods volume to be carried will continuously rise • The transport function of the major federal waterways will rather be extended than reduced • The developments in the transport sector (traffic growth, increase in ship sizes) cannot be influenced in the short run within the framework of the existing regulatory framework Cargo volumes Lower Rhine Increase of 5-10% / year

6. Tasks of the Federal Waterway and Shipping Administration • Provision of the waterway infrastructure • Responsibility for ensuring the width and depth of the fairway • Maintenance of the river bed • Stabilization of the river bed and reduction of erosion at free flowing rivers (Rhine/Elbe/Oder) • Maintenance of the regulating structures (groynes…) • Stabilization of the banks near the fairway • Responsibility for ensuring the safety and smoothness of traffic • Removing obstacles in the fairway • Safety of shoreline trees

7. Tasks of the Federal Waterway and Shipping Administration • Considering the morphological processes in the river this means less a rigid adherence to former conditions than the preservation of comparable conditions of use • The Waterway and Shipping Administration is aware of its responsibility for dealing with this man-made landscape Geteilte Kompetenz Naturschutz- und Wasserwirtschafts-verwaltung Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung Gemeinsame Verantwortung

8. Ecological Requirements • The regional scenario of Natura 2000 shows a high share of waterborne habitats and the nomination of major parts of the federal waterways • This may be taken as evidence for the high nature conservation value of the federal waterways despite or because of their use as a traffic route for many centuries • With the shift of traffic from road to water could be achieved an important contribution to climate protection • On the other hand, the global warming and the associated impacts requires an adjustment of the system ship/waterway

9. Ecological Requirements • In respect to the Water Framework Directive the good ecological and chemical status or the good ecological potential has to be achieved by 2015, at the latest by 2027 • Development and maintenance of rivers for navigation, but also for flood protection, energy producction or other uses undoubtedly cause an deterioration of their structural diversity and function as habitat • So the most federal waterways are classified as "heavily modified"

10. What can the Federal Waterway and Shipping Administration do? • Ecological optimization of the regulatory structures • Inclusion of structure-improving targets in new regulatory structures • Application of semi-natural maintenance methods • Review of uses and construction methods which will not longer be required in the future

11. What can the Federal Waterway and Shipping Administration do? • Use of riparian zones off the fairway and of the foreshores for the shaping of measures • Admission of the morphological dynamics outside the fairway channel • Joint use of the real property of the waterways and shipping administration

12. What can the Federal Waterway and Shipping Administration not do? • Admission of the restriction of functions of the traffic route • Ecological requirements must not be exploited to initiate traffic shifts from the waterway to other possibly less environmentally transport modes

13. Natura 2000 WFD Navigation … Challenges for the future: Interlink the Habitat Directive with the Water Framework Directive • There is an extensive common intersection as regards the objectives, the sectors under review and the instruments for implementation • Sectoral planning is hardly suitable to regulate the various user requirements • An integrated river basin planning requires a cross-sector and holistic approach

14. Challenges for the future: Conceive nature as a dynamic process not as a static condition Rivers are dynamic! Static species lists are limited. It is important to distinguish between habitat-(species-)protection and the protection of ecological processes. We must recognize the opportunities to use the dynamics of the water system without compromising navigation The development of new (secondary-)habitats with high ecological value should be supported. The achievement of a historical natural condition of waterways in a cultural landscape seems unrealistic

15. Challenges for the future: Identification and avoidance of elementary ecological and economic conflicts The involvement of the users already during the definition of protection and preservation objectives as well as in the selection of measures in the course of the elaboration of management plans will solve problems even before they arise Promotion of the mutual appreciation of tasks by an open and regular dialogue The regular exchange on national and international interlinking about the individual strategic aims and the implementation concepts planned for them is an important element on the way to a future-oriented and sustainable management of waterways

16. The aim must not be either nature conservation or navigation, but the search for the common denominator for both, use and environmental protection. Thank you very much for your attention!