Ports and nature - striking a new balance
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Economic growth means we are importing more goods than ever.
Ports are looking to provide new infrastructure and there is a perceived
conflict between the
desire for port development on the one hand and the need to maintain quality
of Natura 2000 on the other. ABP Marine Environmental Research (ABPmer) has
recognised the need to share knowledge between EU member states and it was
with this in mind that it joined the INTERREG IIIB funded North-West Europe
Delta Project, now termed ‘NEW! Delta’. The project is a consortium
of consultancies, ports and academic institutions, which aims to promote
sustainable development in North West European coastal and port areas. The
project runs until June 2007. The main NEW! Delta website is http://www.newdelta.org.
The overall project is managed through 7 themes, with ABPmer leading on
Theme 5, ‘Cause-Effect Relationships’, which aims to produce
guidance on the evaluation of impact of port activities on the marine environment.
Theme 5
The overriding purpose of Theme 5 is to bring together the relevant experience at a European level and to develop a common science-based methodology and toolkit for cause-effect assessment that can be applied to projects and plans or activities in two demonstration projects, one being a proposed plan or project and the second an on-going activity. Without agreement on how to assess the potential impacts of proposed developments or ongoing activities, it is difficult to reach agreement on the predicted impacts or the potential significance of those impacts. Read more...
