Land management in coastal areas has to cope with impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In Germany, landscape plans assess and organize the spatial allocation of land use as an environmental contribution to general spatial planning. Collaborative planning processes are important to develop sustainable and ecosystem-based strategies to make coastal landscapes climate proof. However, there is little experience with collaborative processes in practical planning in Germany, and probably in other countries as well. This paper conducts an empirical case study in the low-lying coastal areas of northwest Germany. During a collaborative landscape planning process, four different ecosystem-based land management scenarios have been co-designed by regional experts and researchers. The participatory and iterative process included the development of scenario narratives to define planning goals, the use of land use elements and their relations to ecosystem services as planning entities in terms of indicators, the art-based illustrations of the different scenarios, and an evaluation and monitoring of the outcomes by regional experts. The decision-maker group decided on the so-called “actor-based” scenario, which contained freshwater retention areas (polders) to prevent potential uncontrolled flooding of the hinterland. This climate adaptation strategy has been implemented in the regional development plan of the county.

Coping with the growing impacts of flooding in EU countries, a paradigm shift in flood management can be observed, moving from safety‐based towards risk‐based approaches and holistic perspectives. Flood resilience is a common denominator of most of the approaches. In this article, we present the ‘Flood Resilience Rose’ (FRR), a management tool to promote harmonised action towards flood resilience in European regions and beyond. The FRR is a result of a two‐step process. First, based on scientific concepts as well as analysis of relevant policy documents, we identified three ‘levels of operation’. The first level refers to the EU Floods Directive and an extended multi‐layer safety approach, comprising the four different layers of protection, prevention, preparedness and recovery, and related measures to be taken. This level is not independent but depends both on the institutional (second level) and the wider (third level) context. Second, we used surveys, semi‐structured interviews and group discussions during workshops with experts from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to validate the definitions and the FRR's practical relevance. The presented FRR is thus the result of rigorous theoretical and practical consideration and provides a tool capable to strengthen flood risk management practice.

Karrasch, L., T. Klenke, and M. Kleyer. 2019. Land-use elements and attributed ecosystem services: an archetype approach to land-use evaluation at the German North Sea coast. Ecology and Society 24(2):13. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10744-240213

Novel strategies in coastal protection are needed to cope with climate change-induced sea level rise. They aim at the sustainable development of coastal areas in light of intensification and land use changes. A promising approach is the design of nature-based solutions (NbS), complementing the safety levels of technical infrastructure. However, NbS lack a widespread and large-scale implementation. To address this deficit, co-design concepts are needed that combine experiences from science and practice. This work presents and discusses the approach of a coast-specific real-world laboratory (RwL) addressing the inclusive design of ecosystem-based coastal protection. Strategies of RwLs are applied for the first time in a coastal context along the North Sea coastline in Germany. We found the concept of RwLs suitable for coastal transdisciplinary research, although adaptions in the spatial reference level or flexibility in location and time of experimentation are necessary. A profound actor analysis is indispensable to specify participatory processes and interaction levels. A criteria-based cooperative selection of RwL sites helps to reveal and solve conflicting interests to achieve trust between science and practice. Addressing site-specific characteristics and practitioners’ needs, our coastal RwL provides a mutual learning space to develop and test NbS to complement technical coastal protection.

The development of collaborative and adaptive land use strategies requires a well-balanced framework that takes the interaction of socio-economic and ecological concerns into account. The ecosystem services approach is increasingly used in environmental sciences and management to stress the ecological benefits nature provides for people. Interaction with practitioners has demonstrated that they think and act in terms of socio-economic considerations. Therefore, direct inclusion of ecosystem services in local decision-making remains difficult. Since social demands and ecological supplies are not independent variables, it is necessary to raise the awareness of stakeholders and scientists towards the interdependencies and mutual feedback mechanisms between the natural and social spheres. The Social Impact Assessment delivers an approach leading to a better and more communicable framework addressing these linkages. In adaptive land use management, planners typically deal with balancing different activities and interests, and decision-makers and scientists jointly address the challenges posed by integrative and interdisciplinary management. To facilitate this complex task, this chapter provides a framework to identify the links between ecosystem services and social impacts, accounting for the social preferences and needs of local decision-makers. This methodological approach consists of three steps, starting with scientific based input and moving towards intensive stakeholder engagement. The framework was tested in the coastal community of Krummhörn (in north-western Germany) and the practical application showed that such a guideline could be used to assist planners and researchers in establishing a more integrated, participatory strategy development process, particularly in relation to regional development with consideration for the complex interactions between nature and society. Additionally, the framework contributes to the stakeholders’ understanding of how the concept of ecosystem services can be anchored in local decision-making and planning processes. The operationalization of the ecosystem services approach and Social Impact Analysis demonstrates that social demands and provision of ecosystem services are closely connected.