Institute for Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation
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Paralia Nature PDF Print

 Paralia Nature

 

Background
Large European ports are involved in expansion plans while at the same time they are located within or in proximity of protected nature. The plans for port development, particularly plans that are meant to meet the rise in container traffic, represent dilemmas between economic development and nature conservation. Nature conservation issues in many of such ports are related to the implementation of the EC Birds and Habitats Directives.

Project

For EU Member States with similar dilemmas it seems of interest to co-operate. Thus in the Paralia Nature project a broad multidisciplinary co-operation is realised between governments, ports, universities, NGO's and knowledge centres in terms of exchange of experiences and information throughout the creation of a thematic network, which is focused on the development of practical and applicable solutions as well as the development of ideas for improvement.

Apart from the creation of a European network the aim is to propose guidance on how to deal properly and efficiently with the different steps involved in Article 6 of the Habitats Directive. Additionally, through the thematic network valuable knowledge on the functioning of estuaries will be shared and furthermore, recommendations will be developed. The products of the Paralia Nature project are informally deliberated with the European Commission.

Paralia is a Greek word that implies near coast activities, with connotations of Transport and Fishery.

Contact person: Mr. Frank Neumann

e-mail:


Project Phases:

Phase 1
Phase 1 of Paralia Nature project took place between December 2000 and April 2002. It covered issues, such as effect analysis and mitigation; generation of alternative solutions; proving Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest (IROPI); compensation for remaining significant negative effects.

Final report 

Phase 2
The 2nd Phase of Paralia Nature (May 2002 to August 2004) soughts out to:

-  develop an informal dialogue, at a policy level, with the European Commission and with European and national environmental groups;
- explore the implications of the European framework of fishery (EU fisheries policy) and nature protection policy (Natura 2000, Birds and Habitats Directives) for large coastal zone infrastructure projects and their compensation;
-establish more structured cooperation on Natura 2000 and estuaries.

Phase 2 aimed at identifying solutions and developing guidance on three main priorities:

- Species protection 
-  Marine protected areas 
- Management plans, compensatory measures, and monitoring

Final Report 

Phase 3
The Third Phase of Paralia Nature started in August 2004 and will run until May 2007. The specific goals of this phase are:

-  to solve legal and organisational problems related to the development of management plans under the Habitats Directive and the corresponding requirements under the Water Framework Directive;
- to deal with the implementation of compensatory and mitigation measures and resolve imminent legal and administrative issues;
- to clarify what can be understood under habitat/mitigation banking and whether such an approach is feasible for meeting ecological goals and in accordance with governing regulation;
- to provide an insight of what are the ?EU proof? solutions by involvement of top level ecological and legal experts. accordance with governing regulation;
-  to present to EU policy developers the outcomes of EU policy at local and regional levels in port areas and coastal zones and thus to convey more directly the consequences of EU policy in practice; 
-  to take care of dissemination of the results to new Member States and a wider group of ports, governments and NOGs in Europe.

So far 4 workshops and 2 partner meetings have been held under Phase III.

Partnership and Network

The co-ordinator and initiator of the project is the Institute for Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation, a network organisation set up to initiate European co-operation projects, which are focused on efficient and effective implementation of EU environmental policy and sustainability goals through innovation in infrastructure projects.
Phase 1: Project partners include the Port of Antwerp, the Port of Rotterdam, the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works Zealand Directorate, the Port of Bremen, the United Kingdom Major British Port Group (UKMPG), the Institute of Ecosystem Studies of the University of Antwerp, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture's Expertise Centre, DIREN-Haute Normandie, PIANC and the Institute for Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation. Through PIANC the results were disseminated to a larger port network.

Phase 2: Project partners in this phase included: the Port of Antwerp , the Port of Rotterdam , the Port of Hamburg , Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works Zealand Directorate, DIREN-Haute Normandie. Port and governmental authorities (national, regional and local), national and international NGO's, sector organisations and experts (ecologists, lawyers etc.) participate on a regular basis in the programme of the project (English Nature, the Flemish Institute of Nature Conservation, the Expertise Centre Mainport Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University , the Netherlands Economic Institute - Ecorys, IUCN, Natuurpunt).

Phase 3: Current project and financing partners include: the Port of Antwerp , the Port of Rotterdam , the Port of Hamburg , the Port of Kotka ( Finland ), DIREN-Haute Normandie ? French Ministry for the Environment, Dutch Ministry of Agriculture ? Department Nature of Protection, Ministry of the Flemish Community - Administration of Waterways and Maritime Affairs. Several port and governmental authorities, NGO?s, sector organisations and experts are participation on a regular basis in the workshops of the project (English Nature, ProSes, Natuurpunt)

Workshop - Paralia Nature Phase III

Workshop   10-11 May 2007:
Successful Paralia Nature Workshop in Riga!   
See for more information:

http://www.imieu.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=46〈=en

Activities


Paralia Nature has undertaken a variety of activities with substantial products. Below are listed three of the most recent workshops of Phase III. This gives a brief overview of their topics, importance and results.

 

The European Court of Justice Decision
The workshop was set up in light of the European Court of Justice Decision (case C- 127/02) which pronounced a set of ongoing activities of dredging to be subject to appropriate assessment under the Habitats Directive. The aim was to identify an adequate approach partially through informal discussion with the European Commission.

The workshop emphasised the importance of the conservation objectives for the use in management plans. In addition the court decisions? implications were discussed with regards to the status of an ongoing activity changing to a planned project to be assessed.

Management Plans
This workshop focused on Management Schemes according to Article 6.1 of the Habitats Directive and practical experience thereof. This included a variety of views on management plans from regional authorities, port authorities, a water authority and a research institute.

The workshop took a closer look at cross-boarder issues between Member States with respect to the creation and implementation of management schemes. It was advised to consult the Water Framework Directive on its solutions to trans-boundary issues.

Temporary Nature and Natural Asset Creation
The aim of this workshop was to introduce two new topics to the project, Temporary Nature and Natural Asset Creation. With the complications of lack of space it has become more common to create temporary nature sites in ports to be relocated later. During the workshop a variety of definitions and types of temporary nature were discussed together with legal status thereof.

The second point of Natural Asset Creation arose from a demand for compensation options. Previous workshops touched on the subject of Mitigation Banking and concluded that it is not compatible with the current European paradigm. Natural Asset Creation was presented as an all European scheme for the alleviation of the gravest dilemmas of compensation.

News - Paralia Nature Phase IV

Paralia Nature meeting- 6th November 2007

The Institute for Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation is planning the 4th phase of the Paralia Nature project and therefore organizes a conference meeting on 5th - 6th November, where the possible topics for the next Paralia Nature phase could be introduced and discussed.

For the 4th Paralia Nature phase, IMI initiates to focus on integrated management plans. Integrated management plans are a very topical issue today due to two new European directives ? Water Framework Directive and Flood Risk Directive, which both require management plans for river basins. The issue of management plans also relates to the Habitat Directive and Natura 2000 protected areas, although these plans are only optional. 

Meeting Programme for 6th November 2007

Contact

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