River basin management Rhine river basin

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River basin management Rhine river basin

• Mark Wiering
• Political Sciences of the Environment
• (Faculty of Management Sciences)

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River Rhine
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The River Rhine

• Rhein (in Germany )
• Rijn (in Dutch) Waal Nederrijn Ijssel
• France Rhin
• Suisse Rein, Rhy and Rhing
• (re/ ri to flow)

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Rhine

• Springs at the Suisse Alps
• Important tributaries Moselle river (left) and
  right Neckar, Main, Lahn, Sieg, Ruhr, Lippe
• 1320 km (fourth river of Europe, after Volga,
  Danube, Dnieper)
• Waterway, river ecosystem, also border between
  countries Suisse and Austria Suisse and
  Germany, France and Germany (sometimes at war)

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International Co-operation for the Protection of
the Rhine (ICPR)

• Problems
• Chemical pollution
• From industries
• From agriculture
• Salination (salt), (French salt mines)
• Temperature of the Rhine (also climate change!)
• General ecology of the Rhine ecosystem
• (later Flooding issues)

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Development of the Rhine regime

• Five turning points (Dieperink, 1998)
• 1949 first informal consultative body for Rhine
  river basin (initiative of Netherlands and
  Suisse)
• Treaty of Bern (1963) formalising co-operation
• Ministerial Conference riparian states Rhine
  (1972)
• 1976 The Rhine Treaties on chloride and chemical
  pollution
• 1986 Rhine Action Program/ new Treaty on the
  protection of the Rhine

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Characteristics of the regime

• Generally viewed as succesful co-operation. Why?
• From bilateral conflicts to the river basin as a
  whole increases problem symmetry
• Increasing knowledge of river basin, ecology,
  creating epistemic community, professionalisation
  of involved parties
• Increasing homogeneity of societal values

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Characteristics of the regimepart 2

• Options for trade offs in negotiation
• A downstream state (NL) that is active and alert,
  and that has something to offer
• Financial compensation, or otherwise compensation
• Safe platform for knowlegde exchange and
  political negotiation
• Comprehensive regime all of the basin, and
  different topics discussed.

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What is River basin Management?

• Three ambitions
• 1. Integrating elements of the water system
• Water quality- water quantity
• Flooding and drought
• Ground water Surface water
• Water chain management
• Internal integration

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What is River basin Management?

• 2. water management and other policy fields
• Water management and land use
• Water management and recreation
• Water management and housing
• Water management and nature, etc.
• Policy fields
• Spatial planning agriculture housing nature
  conservation
• External integration

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What is River basin Management?

• 3. Cross border water management
• - geographical borders
• - administrative borders (regions,
  administrations)
• rivers are not impressed by geographical
  boundaries
• But
• Administrations do not always care much about
  rivers
• cross border integration

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RBM and institutions

• RBM a policy concept (the three ambitions part
  of new discourse)
• RBM new rules of the game
• RBM new policy organisations?
• RBM new policy resources?

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Reasons for Rivercross

• Why co-operation in water management?
• Safety issues/ Flooding management/ Risk
  Management
• Water quality issues and Hydro-morphology in
  River Basin Management
• Water Framework Directive
• Flooding Management Directive?
• Nature conservation/ Landscape/Spatial
  Planning/Tourism?

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Partners in Rivercross (2)

• Netherlands-Germany
• Water quality (Twente)
• River restoration (UDE)
• Flooding (Nijmegen)

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Objectives of Rivercross

• To investigate success and failure of regional
  cross-border co-operation throughout Europe
• To improve scientific knowledge on the
  determinants of successful cross-border
  co-operation
• To formulate policy advice on how to improve
  cross-border river basin management
• To exchange experiences in cross-border river
  basin management and to build networks of water
  managers

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Analysis using the policy arrangements approach
(2)

• Actors
• Interests of these actors (both water related as
  well as other interests)
• Resources of these actors (money, knowledge,
  manpower etc)
• Legislation
• Political culture (policy styles, organisational
  styles)
• Discourse (policy concepts used)

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Regional cross-border co-operation in the river
Rhine
An example
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Gelderland-North Rhine Westphalia border area
River Rhine Dutch-German cross-border area
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New initiatives after flood threats of 1995

• International Commission for the Protection of
  the Rhine installs Working Group on Flooding
• Regional Dutch-German Working Group on High Water

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Working Group High Water

• Dutch participants
• Province Gelderland
• Rijkswaterstaat Eastern Netherlands
• Waterschap Rivierenland
• Union of Dutch River Municipalities
• RIZA

• German participants
• Dep. Environment NRW
• District Düsseldorf
• LUA NRW
• StUA Krefeld
• Kreis Cleves
• Union of Deichverbände

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Activities of the Working Group

• Joint research
• Effects of extremely high water on Lower Rhine
• Cross-border coordination of measures to reduce
  flood risks
• Risk analysis of cross-border dike rings at the
  Lower Rhine
• Communication
• Regular meetings
• Magazine
• Two yearly conference
• Joint projects
• Might be started in the future

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Extent of co-operation in the Working Group

• Extent of co-operation in the Working Group
• Difficult to judge effects on flood protection
• Considerable output (research, communication)
• Participants opinion high levels of
  satisfaction
• Possibilities for improvement
• No focus on related issues yet (e.g. disaster
  management)
• No joint projects yet

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Helpful regarding the Dutch policy arrangement

• Positive
• Dutch organisations share the water system with
  their upstream neighbours from North Rhine
  Westphalia and depend on the organisations from
  North Rhine Westphalia
• Large availability of resources especially money
  and manpower
• German knowledge is made available for Dutch
  organisations
• Cross-border co-operation has always been an
  important theme in the Netherlands

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Helpful regarding the NRW Policy Arrangement

• Positive
• The organisations in North Rhine Westphalia are
  dependent on the organisations in upstream German
  states and stress a discourse of solidarity
  between upstream and downstream neighbours
• Cooperation with the Dutch also makes it possible
  for them to strengthen their position by using
  Dutch resources (especially knowledge, but also
  money and manpower)

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the NRW Policy Arrangement (2)

• Problematic
• There is no representative from the Federal
  Navigation Authority
• Low availability of resources especially money
  and manpower

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Differences and similarities between Policy
Arrangements

• Positive
• Similar policy styles in both countries
• Large similarities between the national
  discourses (Space for the River)
• Problematic
• Large differences between legal frameworks (e.g.
  expropriation is much more difficult in Germany)

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characteristics of the initative itself (Working
Group)

• Positive
• All organisations have a regional background
• Low involvement of politicians
• Preference to discuss technical topics
• Informal meeting habits during co-operation
• Problematic
• Low involvement of politicians
• In formal legal status / restricted mandate

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Fazit

• Co-operation is easier when differences between
  the countries involved are not too big (similar
  arrangements)
• Start with low profile co-operation
• Low level of engagement of politicians
• Priority for technical topics
• Stress shared interests
• Try to contact organisations with a similar
  regional background
• Make knowledge, money and other resources
  available for organisations in the other country
• Carefully create a discourse that stresses the
  importance of cross-border co-operation