NaturalHeritageClimate

The feasibility study NaturalHeritageClimate (NaturErbeKlima) is a model project of DBU Naturerbe GmbH as part of the Federal Action Plan on Nature-based Solution for Climate and Biodiversity funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

The feasibility study is intended to develop and evaluate implementation-orientated concepts for measures to integrate the aims of natural climate protection on natural heritage sites. The national natural heritage sites offer the opportunity to implement natural climate protection measures on large, diverse and permanently secured nature conservation areas in various federal states in a timely manner.

The study has the following specific objectives:

• Demonstration of ways to implement natural climate protection measures on selected national natural heritage sites.
• Promotion of the integration of climate protection goals into nature conservation concepts. A particular focus is on the implementation of specific rewetting and renaturation measures for moors, wetland habitats and floodplains, increasing the resilience of coniferous forests and evaluating the concepts with regard to nature conservation and climate protection.
• Evaluation of these concepts from a nature conservation and climate protection perspective.
• Development of detailed plans for measures in close consultation with authorities through to approval ready for implementation based on project examples. The technical and conceptual project results will be developed in workshops with participants involved in practical implementation.
• Preparation of a digital guide for interested owners of nature conservation areas for the development, implementation and evaluation of projects targeting natural climate protection. Solutions for legal implementation hurdles and conflicting objectives will also be identified.
• Development of an integrated, practice-orientated monitoring concept for water balance and climate resilience of nature conservation areas.

The development of concepts for measures ready for approval contributes to the identification and thus the potential reduction of implementation hurdles for natural climate protection projects. This is part of the actual planning for the implementation of the planned measures in a further project phase.

On behalf of DBU Naturerbe GmbH, BioConsult SH is responsible for work package 1 – technical coordination, overall evaluation and guideline development and is thus involved in the project as project manager of the feasibility study.

The tasks of work package 1 include:

• Preparation and supervision of the tender for work packages 2–5.
• Acting as the central point of contact for all contractors and liaising with the client DBU Naturerbe GmbH.
• Development of an evaluation concept to check compatibility with the overall objectives and to monitor the success of the measures.
• Development of an application-orientated and universal guideline.
• Organisation and coordination of events and workshops.