Concept Of A Sustainable Development Of The Elbe Estuary

Apart from being an important federal waterway large parts of the Elbe estuary have been designated as protected area in the sense of Natura 2000. This leads to a number of conflicts between the commercial obligation to maintain certain water depths and the preservation of these designated areas. A future action plan for the Elbe estuary was established by the Hamburg Port Authority in close cooperation with the Federal Administration for Waterways and Navigation to ensure the conservation of the invaluable estuarine system. This contribution will point out several reasons responsible for the negative developments of the past decades as well as the main problems associated with handling dredged material and further introduces the milestones for a future concept. By implementing this concept a win-win situation for economic and ecological interests can be achieved.