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| WSNL 1998-1 |
| Coastal Protection Master Plan for the Regional District Weser-Ems |
| Issued by the Regional Government Weser-Ems in January 1997 |
PREFACE by Bernd Theilen, President of the Regional Government Weser-Ems The "Coastal Protection Master Plan for the Regional District Weser Ems" is to underline, for the decision makers and public, the aims and taks of coastal protection today and which measures have to be taken until the end of the next decade to increase the protection by dikes, dunes and other flood protection facilities in the district against storm floods. The General Plan points out that in the coastal foreland and, in particular, in the area of some parts of the beaches on the East Frisian Islands changes can be seen of which no ensured statements concerning their further development can yet be made. Here we have to continue to monitor, research and develop protection schemes. The impacts of an impending climate change are not yet statistically detectable in the waterlevels on our coast. |
Further, research is important in this area. Considering the current financial difficulties of the Federal and State Governments, particular efforts are essential to make the necessary funds available for coastal protection. The plan on hand shall emphasize that the availability of these funds must be given the utmost priority because coastal protection is the basis for the protection and safety of the inhabitants, as well as, their way of life in many parts of the regional district. Postponements in the realization of the plans for future dike enforcement measures must be avoided by timely cooperation of all parties concerned, including in particular environmentalists. It is, of course, expected of all parties concerned that, in the interest of the protection of our population against storm floods, they participate constructively in the solution of existing problems. |
10 PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE COASTAL PROTECTION The Government of Lower Saxony, following a proposal of the cabinet committee "Dike Security and Coastal Protection" enacted the following 10 principles for effective coastal protection on the 11.4.1995. The cabinet committee expects that these 10 principles will attain a savings of time and funds so that protection against storm floods in the coastal areas can be realized more quickly. Therefore, the committee deemed a change of the regulation of the "National Park Lower Saxon Wadden Sea" the Lower Saxony Dike Law or the Lower Saxony Environmental Law - also, concerning the regulations about supplemental measures - unnecessary. If the measures of coastal protection are kept to a minimum, the costs for substituting measures would be kept to a minimum as well. The 10 principles also take into consideration the commitments on coastal protection and nature protection given in the "State Spatial Planning Program" and the "Lower Saxon Landscape Program". 1. New embankments will not be undertaken any longer. 2. Main dikes will be enforced and heightened on the inner dike side as far as possible. This will have to be decided according to local circumstances. 3. "Raumordnungsverfahren", "Planfeststellungsverfahren" or "Plangenehmigungsverfahren" will not be undertaken for the enforcement and raising of main dikes on the coast. Environmental NGOs will be considered regarding the planning and their proposals will be discussed with the coastal protection agencies, the project bodies and the responsible planning administrations. 4. EIAs are not required for the enforcement and raising of the main dikes in estuaries. 5. Maintenance work done by the coastal protection agencies is exempt from the prohibitions of the regulations of the "National Park Lower Saxon Wadden Sea". 6. The salt marshes are, as much as necessary, at the disposal of coastal protection. Salt marshes should be managed for the protection of the dike in agreement with the nature protection agencies as far as necessary. 7. The management of the salt marshes does not trigger compensation measures required by nature protection laws. 8. The extraction of clay in the salt marshes for sea defense purposes must be possible in special cases. On principle, clay for sea defense measures is to be extracted behind the dikes. 9. The extraction of sand in the Wadden Sea near the coast is unavoidable for sea defense purposes and the protection of the islands; the extraction should be done in agreement with the National Park Agency. 10. Extensive grazing of the salt marshes is, in selected cases, possible for the reduction of flotsam and the maintenance of the salt marsh stability. |
| WSNL 1998-1 |
SUMMARY The great flood of the 16 and 17 of February 1962 was the cause for the reexamination of dike fortification regulations and a considerable increase in the expansion of dikes and other coastal protection facilities. In 1973, the Lower Saxon Minister of Food, Agriculture and Forestry published the "General Plan for Coastal Protection of Lower Saxony" and compiled the measures that had to be taken at that time. Since then, in the last 20 years a number of severe storm floods have occurred, that reached higher water levels in some coastal areas than in 1962. The measures for coastal protection, based on the General Plan of 1973 and current know-how, which are to be taken have been compiled in the "Coastal Protection Master Plan for the Regional District Weser-Ems" on hand. Also included are the dike sections which, as a result of unexpectedly great compaction and settling of the dike fill, due to adverse construction conditions after 1962, are to be heightened and reenforced a second time. Funding for the measures of coastal protection is made available from the public task "Improvement of Agriculture and Coastal Protection". The Federal Government provides 70% and the State of Lower Saxony 30% of the funding for all the measures of coastal protection. An estimated 2.350 million DM have been spent since 1955 in the Regional District Weser-Ems including the coastal protection measures on the East Frisian Islands up to 01.01.96. |
An estimated 67 million DM were spent in 1996. An estimated 1.100 million DM remains for the coastal protection measures still to be taken. When the annual financial allotment is extracted out of the total, the current budgetary difficulties of the Federal Government and the states, apart from the technical and scientific aspects, must be taken into consideration. As a result of the limited funding possibilities, the expansion problems will take a longer period of time. Coastal protection is a task of environmental protection. Coastal protection, however, as a constructive precautionary task, cannot be attained without effecting the potential of nature or the landscape in a great number of measures. The impact is to be held to a minimum taking into consideration the 10 principles of the State Government for effective coastal protection, as well as, national and international regulations (see text box). The future task will be to combine the aims of environmental protection and coastal protection with a coastal management program taking a number of other important public matters concerning coastal protection, as a general concept, into consideration. This common aim must be sustainably ensured that the coastal region remains a part of Man's existence with its residential areas, business and industrial sites, agricultural areas and its functions for recreation in nature.
Translation by W. and M. Polanski, Wilhelmshaven |