National natural landscapes and renewable energies

A distinction was made between conceptual/planning, regulative, incentive-based and cooperative/persuasive regulatory approaches. The project considered the expansion of wind energy, biomass, ground-mounted PV and power lines in terms of their environmental compatibility. A detailed guideline was produced that presents development options for biosphere reserves and nature parks in view of the conflicting demands of nature conservation and renewable energies. These options need to be integrated using specific regulatory approaches in the context of large protected areas. Finally, transferable results for sub-areas will be generated from the nature conservation field and/or the reviewed regulatory repertoire.

METHODS

The project first analysed examples of environmentally compatible utilisation of renewable energies in NNL and their regulation. In addition to a literature review, the EUROPARC and Verband Deutscher Naturparke e.V. (VDN) associations asked their members about experiences with the use of renewable energies. A further step involved 14 case studies from biosphere reserves and nature parks throughout Germany where regional regulation options for using renewable energies in an environmentally compatible manner were reviewed as examples. Workshops were held with regional stakeholders on some of the main topics. The project also looked at integrated regulatory approaches and the role of large protected areas and their opportunities for action to support regional climate protection strategies and sustainable management. The results were combined into recommendations and evaluated by a two-stage Delphi method. The insights obtained from this were used in a guideline for action. For biosphere reserves and nature parks this shows how the protected area goals and the use of environmentally compatible renewable energy can be reconciled for each type of energy.

Results