WRITTEN QUESTION E-2534/00 by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Fauna-flora-habitat directive.
Date: 2000-08-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC Directive, Rhine Valley, earths and stones, environmental protection, mining operation, protected area

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/119

(2001/C 113 E/120)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2534/00

by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 August 2000)

Subject: Fauna-flora-habitat directive

Almost all the areas along the Upper Rhine earmarked for gravel extraction are covered by the fauna-flora-
habitat directive.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. What implications does this have for the ongoing operation of gravel works in those locations?

2. What implications does inclusion in the directive have for those areas earmarked as reserve areas in

the regional development plan?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(19 September 2000)

The sites which Germany has to date notified under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the
conservation of wild birds (1) and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 2 May 1992 on the conservation of
natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (2) are not adequate. This applies in particular to Baden-
W(cid:252)rttemberg, the German Bundesland in which the (cid:145)Oberrheinebene(cid:146) is primarily situated.

Therefore it should first be stressed that there is an urgent need for Germany to notify the appropriate sites
under the birds and habitats directives including those within the Oberrheinebene.

The significance for the quarries mentioned has to be decided on a case by case basis, by the national
authorities in the framework of European nature protection legislation (in particular Article 6 Habitats
Directive).

For any new plan or project requesting ((cid:145)Abgrabungsgenehmigung(cid:146)) permission for gravel exploitation and
which might involve considerable impacts on a Natura 2000 site, Article 6 of Directive 92/43/EEC needs
to be applied, even if the quality as (cid:145)resource(cid:146) is known. Detailed information about the scope of the Article
6 application is given in a brochure prepared by the Commission available at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/
environment/nature/home.htm., under Community Nature legislation (cid:145)Managing Natura 2000 sites: The
provisions of Article 6 of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC(cid:146).

Already in the 1960(cid:146)s and 1970(cid:146)s, scientific literature notes the positive effects of (cid:145)renaturated(cid:146) quarries
including gravel quarries (3). Therefore not every quarry in the neighbourhood of a Natura 2000 site
should be seen as a disaster, and mitigation and compensation measures like (cid:145)renaturation(cid:146) which reconcile
nature protection and gravel industry interests might be possible in a considerable number of cases.

However, large parts of the (cid:145)Oberrheinebene(cid:146) are under agricultural use (such as maize fields) and gravel or
pebbles are a raw material of broad distribution. Therefore it should not be too difficult for the Member
States to find alternative sites for gravel quarrying outside of Natura 2000 sites.

(1) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.
(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.
(3)

cf. eg. Weinzierl (1964): Kiesgrube und Landschaft.