Work Package 4 - Management & Law

WP 4 deals mainly with institutional and economic aspects of ecologic water management. Research of the WP centres around the crucial governance question: Which objectives and instruments will be suitable to efficiently and effectively strive at high ecologic water quality even in heavily used and impacted waters? In this view, we dedicate focal interest to the ambitious ecologic objectives and pertaining exemptions of the EU Water Framework Directive and in particular to the Directive's concept of "disproportionate cost" as a key motivation for less stringent quality objectives. Linked to this and in close cooperation with the natural scientists of the IP in WP 2 and WP 3, we analyse whether shifting objectives more towards ecosystem functioning rather than appearance of specific species could contribute to achieving a high level of aquatic ecosystem health with proportionate cost.

Key publications

Klauer, B., Rode, M., Schiller, J., Franko, U. and Mewes, M. (2012). Decision support for the selection of measures according to the requirements of the EU Water Framework. Water Resour. Manag. 26 (3): 775-798.

Reese, M. (2015). Die Voraussetzungen für Minderziele nach Art. 4.5 WRRL. Erscheint in: Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht 2/2016

Klauer, B., Sigel, K., Schiller, J. Hagemann, N. and Kern, K. (2015). Nutzen-Kosten-Analyse in der Wasserwirtschaft: Methoden im europäischen Vergleich und die Ableitung eines kohärenten Verfahrens für die LAWA. Endbericht. UFZ-Bericht 1/2015, Leipzig.