Rahmenbedingungen für die Wirksamkeit von Maßnahmen des ...

Rahmenbedingungen für die Wirksamkeit von Maßnahmen des Artenschutzes bei Infrastrukturvorhaben7 AbstractBy means of the Kleine Novelle (“short amendment”) of the Bundesnaturschutzgesetz(“German Federal Nature-Conservation Act”), the species-conservation provisions of theBundesnaturschutzgesetz have been adjusted to the European legal requirements ofboth the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Article 44, paragraph 5 of theBundesnaturschutzgesetz 1 introduces the option of establishing what are known as“Continuous Ecological Functionality” (CEF)-measures. These are means to ensure theconservation of the ecological functionality, in a spatial context, of those breeding sitesand/or resting places that are affected by human interference or projects, of species protectedby European legislation.The R&D project “Underlying conditions for ensuring the efficacy of species-conservationmeasures in infrastructural projects” is intended to help clarify which technical demandsare to be made on CEF-measures, and what the scope of, and the limits to, such measuresare. Inter alia, this calls for:• the technical delimitation of species-conservation terms that lack an unambiguousdefinition;• the specification of general nature-conservation requirements for CEF-measures;and• the more concrete specification of requirements for CEF-measures, exemplified byselected species.Technical and legal basicsThe key provision for CEF-measures is article 44, paragraph 5 of the German FederalNature-Conservation Act. Pursuant to this provision, there is no violation of the prohibitionexpressed in section 1, No. 3 (impairment of breeding sites and resting places) or,with respect to the associated unavoidable harm to wild animals, of the prohibition expressedin section 1, No. 1 (ban on the killing of individuals), provided that the ecologicalfunctionality of the breeding sites or resting places in a spatial context remainsassured. Where necessary, CEF-measures may be adopted to this end.The ecological functionality of breeding sites and resting places signifies the conditionsnecessary for successful reproduction and undisturbed resting. As a rule, suchconditions prevail if the requisite structures of a given habitat are conserved in constantquality and scale, or if it can be demonstrated or safely assumed that there is no deteriorationin the successful reproduction or undisturbed resting of the individual, or of thecommunity of individuals, at the affected breeding site or resting place.1 Formerly article 42, paragraph 587