Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe

Status

A National Report for ICZM in Germany was submitted to the European Commission on 3 April 2006, as an assessment and steps towards a National ICZM Strategy for Germany.

The Report defines the strategy as an informal and thus voluntary approach supporting sustainable development of the coastal areas. ICZM is not regarded as a statutory instrument to formal planning and decision-making procedures. The Report states that the current legislative framework in Germany is capable of meeting most of the ICZM principles, however, further legislative adaptation and optimisation of governance instruments are encouraged by the national strategy.

Reporting Institution

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
(Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, BMU)
Robert Schumann Platz 3
Referat N 1 5, Postfach 12 06 29
53175 Bonn

Ministry of Environment (BMU) through the Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) is the leading agency and formally responsible for collating the development of the German National ICZM Strategy.

According to the Constitution, both the federal government as well as the federal states have joint responsibility for most areas of coastal planning issues. The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing is responsible for providing national guidelines and co-ordinating planning policy from which the individual states derives its own planning legislation. This entails that for regional planning, nature conservation and water-management, the Länder have a high degree of freedom in establishing their own legislative structure and adhering laws, albeit having to be in co-ordinance with the federal legal framework.

National Contact

Mr. Stefan Lütkes, Head of Division
Contact: Stefan.luetkes@bmu.bund.de

Ms. Ell Marcus
Contact: Marcus.Ell@bmu.bund.de

National Reporting to the EU ICZM Recommendation

Integriertes Küstenzonenmanagment in Deutschland, National Strategie für ein integriertes Küstenzonenmanagement (Bestandsaufnahme, Stand 2006) nach der EU-Empfehlung 2002/413/EG vom 30 Mai 2002, Kabinettsbeschluss vom 22 März 2006 (99 pages, German)

ICZM, Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Germany, Assessment and steps towards a national ICZM strategy (12 pages, English summary, German summary)

Stocktake and Supporting Documents

National Stocktake by Ministry of Environment, plus drafts of reports discussed at workshops in April and August of 2005

Spatial planning at sea? Towards a national ICZM strategy: spatial planning perspectives (report by Housing, Transport and Planning Ministry)

Further Information

Website of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
http://www.ikzm-strategie.de/