Restoration of the tidal lagoon of the Zwin

The tidal tloodplain of the Zwin between Knokke (Belgium,Flanders) and Cadzand(Netherlands) is a border-crossing relic of the sound that once connected the medieval ports of Damme and Sluis with the North Sea and gave Bruges its golden age. Historic land reclaim, that only ended in 1872, reduced the Zwin to a tidal lagoon with a superficies of only 200 hectares, comprising salt marshes, mudtlats, tidal gullies and coastal dunes. Once an important sanctuary for coastal bird-species, the Zwin is in both concerned European Union member states included in the European Natura 2000 network. Since the years 1980, accelerated silting up of the lagoon and gullies and encroachment of the salt marshes with Elymus athericus have resulted into a significant loss of biodiversity. The accelerated silting up is caused by the lack of dynamics in relation to the too small scale of the remaining sea-inlet. After the necessary hydrodynamic modelling and an Environmental Impact Assessment were carried out, it was decided that the tloodplain of the Zwin should be enlarged with 120 hectares by moving the searetaining dike inland. The Agency for Nature and Forest (Flanders) has, together with the Province of Zeeland (Netherlands), also elaborated an arrangement-plan for the presently existing tidal site. This arrangement-plan prescribes rejuvenation of the salt marshes by cutting off sods and grazing by cattle and livestock as well as restoration of a tidal lagoon and expansion of the main sea-inlet by excavations

The Flemish coast: life is beautiful!

Along the quite short Belgian coastline (65km), six Natura 2000 sites have been delimited on land and one at sea. This probably explains why from the 20 Life nature projects that up to now have been or are being executed in the Flemish region no less than four are focused on coastal areas. This paper offers a review of those four coastal Life nature projects and their achievements. The Life nature project ‘ICCI’ (1997-2001) aimed at re-establishing ecological relations between sea and land, between sandy beaches, mudflats, salt marshes and coastal dunes and between coastal dunes and polders from De Panne to Nieuwpoort and stimulating the policy of purchase of coastal dunes by the Flemish region. Its successor, ‘FEYDRA’ (2002-2005), has as main goal, the restoration of annex 2 - habitats in several coastal dune sites in Koksijde and Nieuwpoort. ‘Salt meadows at the Flemish coast’ (1999-2003) and its sequel, ‘The Uitkerkse Polder’ (2003-2008), strive for the maintenance or restoration of polder meadows with a rich topography by land purchase and an appropriate nature management. The Life nature projects ‘ICCI’ and ‘Salt meadows at the Flemish coast’ have achieved complete realisation of their objectives. Both other Life projects that are mentioned above are still being executed, but the prospects look good. Essential elements in this success have been a thorough scientific preparation and a sustained action for public support. The Life nature projects in the coastal zone have not only accomplished their initial program, but also had a favourable influence on the conservation policy of the Flemish government for the coastal zone; prospected the possibilities for a federal conservation policy in the marine environment and stimulated dialogue between conservationists on the one hand, local authorities and drinking water supply companies on the other hand

Academische studiedag: 5 Jaar strand-natuurreservaat 'De Baai van Heist' - De Vlaamse stranden: steriele zandbakken of natuurpatrimonium? Zeebrugge, 14 juni 2002

The management of the natural reserve 'De Baai van Heist' focuses not only on the implementation of European Directive

Purchase of dunes: the first step towards nature restoration along the Flemish coast

In 1997 only 1022ha of the remaining 3800ha of coastal dunes was owned by the Flemish Region. The other 2778ha were mostly private property of real estate development firms, large landowners, individuals and, to a lesser degree, public owned by water collection companies, the Ministry of Defence and a couple of municipalities. The then public owned dunes of the Flemish Region were divided as follows among the different administrations of the Ministry of the Flemish Community: 522ha under competence of the Nature Division, 350ha under that of the Waterways and Coast Division and 150ha under that of the Forestry Division. Most of the areas owned by the Nature Division were already purchased between 1956 and 1990. Lack of personnel, funds and strategic perspective prevented the Flemish Region to pursue an active policy of land purchase along the coast. In 1996 an 'Acquisition Plan for the Coastal Dunes' was drawn up by the Group for Applied Ecology of the University of Antwerp under the supervision of the Nature Division. Parliamentary initiatives, following a political debate organised in the frame of the Life nature project 'ICCI', led to the creation of an 'instrument for the acquisition of coastal dunes' by decision of the Flemish government of 3 February 1998. Since 1998 the 'Instrument for the acquisition of coastal dunes' consists of two members of staff, that were added to the Nature Division, and a special article on the budget of the Flemish government. This budgetary article received an initial annual endowment of EUR 1,735,255 in 1998, EUR 3,222,616 in 1999 and EUR 4,462,083 for each year between 2000 and 2004. That initial endowment has been reduced to EUR 2,546,000 in 2005. A weakness in this financing system is that the possibly annually remaining budget cannot be transferred to the budget of the next year, so that no strategic fund can be built up. The active prospecting by the staff of the Acquisition Instrument has allowed the Nature Division to purchase 480ha of dunes between 1998 and 2004. Nearly all these acquisitions were realised with agreement of the former owner. In execution of the Decree of 21 October 1997 concerning Nature Conservation and the Natural Environment, the right of pre-emption of the Flemish Region has been introduced in most of the legally protected areas of Flanders. In the coastal zone however this right of pre-emption has not led to spectacular results, because of a very strongly fragmented property structure and high ground prices due to land speculation. Although the Acquisition Instrument has obtained very good results, a long way still has to be gone before the goal of public ownership of all remaining coastal dunes will be achieved. Essential improvements of the financial and legal instruments for the purchase of dunes should be the creation of a strategic financial fund, an actualisation of the since long outdated expropriation act and improvement of the right of pre-emption for conservation purposes to be able to fend off land speculation