5.4 Estuaries in the Southern North Sea Region
107
such as the Integrated River Basin Management Plans
15 according to the WFD deficits and
measures to improve existing and identified problems are listed.
Here, reference is made to two recently conducted research projects for European estuaries. On the one hand, the Tidal River Development project (TIDE
16 ) running from
2010 to 2012 in the framework of the EU Interreg IVB program dealing with the identification and assessment of measures to improve the status (physical and environmental) of
European estuaries. On the other hand, the Estuaries on the move project (EMOVE
17 ) also
conducted in the framework of the EU Interreg IVB program. The aim of EMOVE was to
identify (integrated) solution approaches and to find a way on how to bring/motivate stakeholders in respective estuaries to become shareholders. Shareholders in the way to jointly
work on challenges, problems and development goals for parts or the entire estuary.
For the Weser river the identification process was conducted by an expert group judgment. Although, the expert groups in the EMOVE and TIDE projects did not have any
overlap, the general result is similar: navigation or transport/logistic shows negative impact on the natural system. Within the EMOVE project it was based on the application of
the DPSIR approach. DPSIR is the abbreviation of drivers (or driving forces), pressures,
state, impacts and response and is a causality based concept to highlight the interrelationship between human activities and environmental degradation (Pirrone et al., 2005). The
definition of the terms is as follows:
• The driving forces are processes and anthropogenic activities (production, consumption, recreation, etc.) able to cause pressures
• The pressures are the direct stresses, deriving from the anthropogenic system, and
affecting the natural environment, that is, pollutant release
• The state reflects the environmental conditions of natural systems (air, soil and water
quality)
• The impact is the measure of the effects due to changes in the state of environmental
systems
• The response is the evaluation of actions; oriented to solve environmental problems in
terms of management strategies
This approach was and is wide-spread applied – see, for example, in OECD (1997); Smeets
and Weterings (1999). Based on expert group judgment per estuary relevant pressures
according to a list of drivers were identified. The result for the Weser is shown in Fig. 5.37.
In order to identify relevant pressures of an estuary which are the direct stresses posed
by human interference several driving forces have been suggested. A long list of drivers
15 See Sect. 6.1.1.
16 www.tidetoolbox.eu
17 www.emove-project.eu
107
such as the Integrated River Basin Management Plans
15 according to the WFD deficits and
measures to improve existing and identified problems are listed.
Here, reference is made to two recently conducted research projects for European estuaries. On the one hand, the Tidal River Development project (TIDE
16 ) running from
2010 to 2012 in the framework of the EU Interreg IVB program dealing with the identification and assessment of measures to improve the status (physical and environmental) of
European estuaries. On the other hand, the Estuaries on the move project (EMOVE
17 ) also
conducted in the framework of the EU Interreg IVB program. The aim of EMOVE was to
identify (integrated) solution approaches and to find a way on how to bring/motivate stakeholders in respective estuaries to become shareholders. Shareholders in the way to jointly
work on challenges, problems and development goals for parts or the entire estuary.
For the Weser river the identification process was conducted by an expert group judgment. Although, the expert groups in the EMOVE and TIDE projects did not have any
overlap, the general result is similar: navigation or transport/logistic shows negative impact on the natural system. Within the EMOVE project it was based on the application of
the DPSIR approach. DPSIR is the abbreviation of drivers (or driving forces), pressures,
state, impacts and response and is a causality based concept to highlight the interrelationship between human activities and environmental degradation (Pirrone et al., 2005). The
definition of the terms is as follows:
• The driving forces are processes and anthropogenic activities (production, consumption, recreation, etc.) able to cause pressures
• The pressures are the direct stresses, deriving from the anthropogenic system, and
affecting the natural environment, that is, pollutant release
• The state reflects the environmental conditions of natural systems (air, soil and water
quality)
• The impact is the measure of the effects due to changes in the state of environmental
systems
• The response is the evaluation of actions; oriented to solve environmental problems in
terms of management strategies
This approach was and is wide-spread applied – see, for example, in OECD (1997); Smeets
and Weterings (1999). Based on expert group judgment per estuary relevant pressures
according to a list of drivers were identified. The result for the Weser is shown in Fig. 5.37.
In order to identify relevant pressures of an estuary which are the direct stresses posed
by human interference several driving forces have been suggested. A long list of drivers
15 See Sect. 6.1.1.
16 www.tidetoolbox.eu
17 www.emove-project.eu