LC 00418

By looking at the the activities, actors and methods/approaches used, this section will provide a better understanding of the the implementation process of the MLS approach. We will look describe the point of departure, describe who was involved (when, why and how) and what key decisive moments there were.

Point of departure of FRM strategies

Stakeholders involved

As pilot coordinator, Jade University of Applied Sciences interacts with the following stakeholders (FRR, 2018):

• Disaster management NGO (DLRG, DRK, THW, FF, Johanniter)
• Disaster management Government (Wesermarsch)-county level
• Disaster management Government (Butjadingen) municipal level
• Police in its function in disaster management
• Training in disaster management (NABK)
• Regional planning Government (Wesermarsch)
• Dike board and water board (Wesermarsch)
• Dike and soil union
• Federal Armed Forces
• NLWKN (flood risk management)
• Energy provider (EWE)
• Veterinary authority
• Police as local authority
• Agricultural union (Landvolk)
• Harbour (Nports)

There are 6 waterboards: Braker Sielacht, Entwasserungsverband Stedingen, Entwasserungsverband Jade, Entwasserungsverband Butjadingen, Stadlander Sielacht and Mooriem Ohmsteder Sielacht. All water boards together with two dike boards (I and II Oldenburgischer Deichband) are organised under one umbrella organisation, the ” Kreisverband Wesermarsch der Wasser- und Bodenverbände”. However, they generally decide individually on how to regulate water levels and flows within their respective areas. The executives of the boards are elected by the members and all land owners are compulsory members of the board. 

Roles of key actors

The main actors on water and disaster management (floods) in Germany, top-down:

• National government – provides funding (for example for ‘Generalplan Küstenschutz’), sets out guidelines (e.g. national adaptation strategy), European Floods Directive, WFD is implemented
• LAWA – (Bund/Länderarbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser) > working group of all federal states on flood risk and water management between the Federal and National level. Responsibility of the federal states; LAWA ensures an integration of all the federal states on FRM and WM issues. It is a guideline, not a legislation (interview with pilot manager, 2019).
• Federal level (Lower Saxony) – very important level > Ministry of Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection. NLWKN is the executive water management agency/body of the ministry. It delivers the risk maps and risk management plans for the European Floods Directive, strategic oversight of water management and coastal protection, responsible of checking dikes, the beaches etc. / engineering structures. The NLWKN is the executive body at the federal level, the arm of the Ministry (similar to Rijkswaterstaat in the Netherlands) (interview with pilot manager, 2019).
• Regional / local level – first tier: counties (‘Landkreis’ and ‘kreisfreie Städte’) and second tier: municipalities (‘Städte und Gemeinden’) (administrative borders) > planning, so also play an important role in disaster management (interview with pilot manager, 2019).

Agencies for disaster management at local level (interview pilot manager, 2019):

• Polizeidirektion‘ (intermediate between county and federal level). The Policy direction coordinates activities between different counties (2,3 or 4 depends on how the area is organized) in disaster management. They are responsible to organize back up forces to support forces in the county: the fire fighters, the German red cross, military, policemen (interview pilot manager, 2019).
• ‘Untere Katastrophenschutzbehörde’ (County Level)
• head of the County (‘Landrat’, on county level) takes the lead in case of an emergency or a catastrophe if the municipality cannot cope with it.
• Mayors (municipal level). The mayor is responsible of disaster management at local level. The implementation of the EU Flood directive didn’t change the FRM structures and actors at local level because the area to consider is smaller than a river catchment for management (interview pilot manager, 2019).

The administrative levels for disaster management are: local, county (municipalities), police direction, federal, national, EU.

Agencies for flood risk management and water management:

• dike boards (‘Deichverbände) > responsible for dikes and dike reinforcements,;
• water and soil boards / associations (‘Wasser- und Bodenverbände) corporation of the public right in the sense of the water association law, it’s a drainage association (interview with pilot manager, 2019). responsible for pumping
• ‘Untere Wasserbehörde’, water authority on county level, regulatory authority for dike, water and soil boards

The role of the stakeholders involved in the execution of this pilot are the following (interview with pilot manager, 2019):

• The role of Jade University of Applied Sciences is to coordinate the pilot activities, gather information on disaster management and share it among all stakeholders. Moreover, Jade also develops useful products for the stakeholders. Overall, motivate stakeholders and change their mindset to take action further (after FRAMES).
• The Red Cross is very active in the project and responsible for two main activities: the development of the plan for individual preparedness and improve the organisation of volunteers during a disaster.
• The subcontracted consultancy (Frank) was key to contact with stakeholders (sports, clubs and village organizations, administration, supermarkets, banks) in the municipality of Butjadingen and conduct the survey about risk awareness to citizens.
• The farmers’ association of the County, the veterinaries and LAVES (state agency for food security) together with Jade University are responsible of developing a brochure for the farmers to assess their farm preparedness in case of a flooding.
• NLWKN is the state agency on water management, coastal protection and nature conservation. It is responsible for flood protection, not drainage. It can provide a lot of data on flood risk (tools for risk calculation) in case of dyke breaching from previous projects. Although, it is difficult to get them on board, one person from the NLWKN is going to participate in the ’Flood partnership’ day and in providing spatial data for spatial planning.
• Wesermarsch County: took the lead for the Katwarn App (alert app) and on collecting information on the availability of emergency power supply (”Notstrom”)

Referenties

• Entwasserungsverband Butjadingen, Entwasserungsverband Butjadingen, 13 juni 2019.
• Entwasserungsverband Jade, Entwasserungsverband Jade, 13 juni 2019.
• FRAMES_Monitoring_Survey_11_Wesermarsch_completed.pdf, FRAMES, 1 september 2019.
• Transnational Monitor and Evaluation report FRAMES, FRAMES, FRAMES, 8 juni 2020.
• Vorbereitet sein!, Jade University, 19 december 2019.
• Flood Resilience Rose 2 pager for project and pilot coordinators, Klenke, T., B. Restemeyer and L. Karrasch, University of Oldenburg, 6 december 2018.
• Oldenburgischer Deichband I, Oldenburgischer Deichband I, 13 juni 2019.
• Oldenburgischer deichband II, Oldenburgischer deichband II, 13 juni 2019.