Including sediment in European River Basin Management Plans: twenty years of work by SedNet
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ADVANCES IN SEDIMENT SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
Including sediment in European River Basin Management Plans: twenty years of work by SedNet Jos Brils 1 Received: 26 May 2020 / Accepted: 13 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Purpose This paper describes the efforts made by SedNet—the European Sediment Network—to generate attention for the inclusion of sediment in River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Materials and methods The SedNet response to key WFD implementation events is described using the “three-streams and windows-of-opportunities model” published by John Kingdon in 1995. Results and discussion SedNet was initially a response to the realization that the WFD—which came into force in 2000—largely neglected sediment. For SedNet, it was clear from the beginning that the WFD objectives can be achieved only if sediment is included in RBMPs. The SedNet efforts inspired the establishment of a sediment management concept for the Elbe river basin. That concept was used as a basis for the full inclusion of sediment in the second Elbe RBMP (2015–2021). SedNet experts are currently involved in the drafting of the WFD Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) sediment document which will be completed in 2021 and that will provide guidance about how to include sediment in RBMPs. Conclusions Since 2000, SedNet has persistently drawn attention to the need to include sediment in RBMPs. However, it was not until 2015 that the Elbe became the first European river basin to include sediment management fully in their RBMP. The 2021 WFD CIS sediment document and the focus on sediment in the Water Fitness Check in 2019 make it significantly more likely that the sediment will be included in the updates of WFD RBMPs in the near future. Keywords Sediment . Sediment management . Water Framework Directive . River Basin Management Plans . SedNet
1 Introduction The turn of the century proved to be a very important time for sediment and sediment management. It marked the launch of the first issue (in March 2001) of the Journal of Soils and Sediments (Owens and Xu 2020), the European Water Framework Directive (EC 2000) came into force in the year 2000, and the European Sediment Network, SedNet, was established in the same year (Gandrass et al. 2000). All these initiatives have been important for sediment and sediment management, and all of them are still very much alive and kicking twenty years later. The SedNet objectives are to ensure the inclusion of sediment issues and knowledge in European strategies in order to Responsible editor: Marc Babut * Jos Brils [email protected] 1
Deltares, Utrecht, Netherlands
support the achievement of good environmental status and to develop new tools for sediment management. SedNet welcomes anyone to share and cooperate on the achievement of this mission, and it therefore brings together sediment professionals from science, government, management, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), consultancy, and industry. SedNet interacts with a range of n
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