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Through the links to the WFD, all activities under the FD must be in line with the requirements of the BHDs as well, e.g. when flood protection measures potentially affect one or more Natura 2000 sites (EU 1992, Art. 6). Neither the WFD nor the FD change any of the requirements for the BHDs, but they provide a joint framework for the implementation of measures in water-dependent Natura 2000 sites (EC 2011c). Therefore, it is recommended that water bodies, as the basic unit for the WFD, are delineated as far as possible taking into account the protected areas from the BHDs, because these protected areas introduce additional objectives (EC 2003). The restoration of healthy ecosystems, e.g. through Natura2000 networks, can be a very effective way of preventing and mitigating floods, and will in addition be an important tool in adapting to climate change. However, conflicts between the directives can occur as well, e.g. when increasing the dynamics in floodplains (as a measure to support flood risk management). This may have negative consequences for existing environmental values protected under the BHDs. This can arise when human intervention has modified a water body and, as a result of the modification, some valuable protected habitats and/or species have developed in the modified environment. The observed conflicts can be solved by early cooperation, negotiation and well informed choices using the flexibilities that the Directives provide (Summary Report 2015).

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  • romaocar (Carlos Romao) 09 Oct 2015 16:39:34

    'However, conflicts between the directives can occur as well, e.g. when increasing the dynamics in floodplains (as a measure to support flood risk management). This may have negative consequences for existing environmental values protected under the BHDs. ' I doubt this could leed to a conflict: in general, species and habitats linked to river systems are degraded or thretened due to artificialisation, dams, weirs, canalisation... removing these to allow 'natural' flooding of floodplains will be beneficial. Either be specific with possible examples or remove the sentence...

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