Organization
A large part of the German authorities responsible for coastal and marine areas are partners in the MDI-DE administrative agreement. They merge data and information from the subject areas of basic marine data, coastal engineering, marine environmental protection and marine nature conservation in a specialized portal to jointly fulfill national and international information obligations of the authorities.
Organizational structure
The steering group adopts the annual work program and decides on the current budget for the operation and further development of the MDI-DE. It is composed of representatives of the responsible ministries of the federal government and the coastal states.
The project management and the budget management are currently carried out by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
The project group determines the strategic and technical orientation of the MDI-DE in agreement with the steering group. If required, the members of the project group from the partner authorities form temporary working groups with the support of an IT service provider.
The working groups are convened by the project manager to work on specific topics and products of the MDI-DE. The focus is on merging distributed heterogeneous data sets into joint thematic services. The results of the work are recorded and published in guidelines to give information about the development, maintenance and recommendations for action. These documents are updated as needed and describe, in particular, the content and technical agreements for data harmonization and interoperability.
The following authorities are partners of MDI-DE:
The Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) is the higher technical and scientific federal authority in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) with locations in Karlsruhe and Hamburg. The BAW is the central service provider for advising and supporting the Ministry and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) within the scope of their transport water engineering tasks, in particular their responsibility under construction supervision for ensuring that all facilities and installations on federal waterways meet the requirements of safety and order. Through its work, it makes a significant contribution to ensuring that Germany’s waterways meet the growing technical, economic and ecological requirements. At the Hamburg site, the focus is on hydraulic engineering in the coastal area. In addition, the Geotechnical Engineering North and Coast department, the Ship Technology department and the KFKI office are located there.
Within the MDI-DE, the BAW provides data from coastal engineering, such as high tide, low tide, salinity, bathymetry and sea state characteristics from the EasyGSH-DB project.
Contact:
Kirsten Binder
+49 40 81908-475
kirsten.binder@baw.de
Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau
Wedeler Landstraße 157
22559 Hamburg
www.baw.de
The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is the higher federal scientific authority for national and international nature conservation in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV). It provides technical and scientific support to the BMUV and other federal authorities in all matters of nature conservation and landscape management as well as in international cooperation, cooperates with the specialist authorities of the Länder and represents Germany on behalf of the BMUV in bodies relevant to nature conservation. The BfN is the competent nature conservation authority for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf, and is also responsible for international marine nature conservation. In the EEZ of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, it is responsible in particular for the selection and management of marine protected areas (Natura 2000 sites), implementation of the Environmental Damage Act (USchadG) with regard to marine biodiversity damage, biodiversity monitoring, maintenance of a register of protected biotopes and a compensation register for interventions in nature and landscape, as well as monitoring compliance with nature conservation regulations, including hazard prevention.
In the MDI-DE project, the BfN department “Marine Protected Areas of the EEZ” supports an improvement of the availability and compatibility of marine data of the responsible federal authorities, state authorities and marine science institutions. The project aims to facilitate the provision of their own data to others and to achieve a high degree of conformity to existing standards for geodata. In addition, the fulfillment of EU reporting obligations, in particular the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Natura 2000, is to be facilitated by MDI-DE.
Contact:
Henning Gerstmann
+49 341 30977-255
henning.gerstmann@bfn.de
Mirko Hauswirth
+49 38301 86-167
mirko.hauswirth@bfn.de
Bundesamt für Naturschutz
Fachgebiet II 3.2 “Meeresschutzgebiete der AWZ”
Standort Insel Vilm/Rügen
18581 Putbus
www.bfn.de/thema/meere
The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is an upper federal authority in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) with offices in Hamburg and Rostock. The tasks of the BSH include: Maritime environmental protection, maritime safety and security, marine surveying, wreck search, nautical information systems, services for maritime shipping, warning services (water level and tide forecasts, storm surge warning service, ice service), maritime monitoring (with regard to climate change and environmental changes), spatial planning in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), approval procedures for offshore wind farms and pipelines, and the operation of a marine geodata center.
The BSH’s GeoSeaPortal provides central access to geobasic data and geospecialist data on the sea and its coasts.
Contact:
Johannes Melles
+49 40 3190-3420
gdi@bsh.de
Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie
Bernhard-Nocht-Str. 78
20359 Hamburg
www.bsh.de
The State Agency for Environment in Schleswig-Holstein (LfU) is a higher state authority subordinate to the Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate protection, the Environment and Nature (MEKUN) in Kiel. Environmental issues relating to the marine sector are dealt with by the Coastal Waters Department. One of the main tasks of the department is to monitor the state of the environment in the coastal waters of Schleswig-Holstein, also in order to plan urgent measures and check their effectiveness. In addition, there is the recording and evaluation of species and habitats of the seas and coasts. Here, there are close interfaces with the tasks of nature conservation. The investigations carried out and the data and assessments collected are largely used for the implementation of directives in the field of marine and water protection. In particular, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Habitats Directive and the regional agreements OSPAR and HELCOM should be mentioned.
Together with the State Agency for Coastal Protection, National Park and Marine Conservation (LKN), LfU operates the MDI-SH infrastructure node and uses it to provide data on marine priority topics for Schleswig-Holstein.
Contact:
Christoph Heinrich
+49 4347 704-499
christoph.heinrich@lfu.landsh.de
Landesamt für Umwelt des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, Flintbek
Hamburger Chaussee 25
24220 Flintbek
www.schleswig-holstein.de/LfU | Dezernat Küstengewässer | MDI-SH
The National Park Administration in the State Agency for Coastal Protection, National Park and Marine Conservation (LKN.SH) is responsible for the administration of the largest national park in Germany: the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park. The National Park Act regulates the protection, development and maintenance measures, the recording of the condition of the protected assets (monitoring), the granting of exceptions and exemptions, research coordination and information and environmental education work.
The LKN.SH is also Schleswig-Holstein’s service provider for coastal protection on the North Sea and Baltic Sea with its offshore islands and Halligen, for flood protection on the Elbe, hazard prevention and watercourse maintenance on the I. order watercourses and for the construction, operation, management and maintenance of the state-owned ports with a hydrographic measurement and observation service and a central watch and warning service for water management.
The participation in the MDI-DE is intended to support the implementation of legally required reporting and information duties from the Environmental Information Act, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Natura 2000, INSPIRE and the resulting mandatory monitoring tasks.
Contact:
Jörn Kohlus
+49 4861 616-46
joern.kohlus@lkn.landsh.de
Bettina Mendel
+49 4861 616-48
bettina.mendel@lkn.landsh.de
Landesbetrieb für Küstenschutz, Nationalpark und Meeresschutz Schleswig-Holstein, Nationalparkverwaltung, Fachbereich: Umweltbeobachtung und Planungsgrundlagen
Schloßgarten 1
25829 Tönning
www.schleswig-holstein.de/LKN | https://www.nationalpark-wattenmeer.de/sh
The State Agency for Environment, Nature Conservation and Geology (LUNG) is an upper state authority in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is subordinate to the Ministry for Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Environment. In addition to the Ministry of Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Environment, the Ministry of the Interior, Building and Digitalization is also responsible for technical supervision in some areas.
The main tasks of the LUNG are the development of scientific and technical bases in relation to individual environmental areas and the geology of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (M-V), as well as monitoring in the sense of recording, evaluating and documenting the state of the environment and the geological subsurface, including reporting in the state of M-V, to the federal government and to the EU.
Further tasks are the consulting of the Ministry of Environment and the environmental administration including municipalities – in the field of raw material protection also of the Ministry of Economics – as well as data provision and consulting as a service for trade, industry and commerce as well as the execution of enforcement tasks, which have a state-wide significance.
Within the framework of the MDI-DE, the LUNG provides data from the environmental monitoring of the coastal waters of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Contact:
Mario von Weber
+49 385 588 64331
mario.weber@lung.mv-regierung.de
Stefanie Sanne
+49 385 588 64325
stefanie.sanne@lung.mv-regierung.de
State Agency for Environment, Nature Conservation and Geology
Goldberger Str. 12b
18273 Güstrow
www.lung.mv-regierung.de
The tasks and responsibilities of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration (NLPV) are defined in the National Park Act and include the preparation of concepts for protection, development and maintenance measures, the recording of the condition of the protected assets, the granting of exceptions and exemptions, research and research coordination as well as information and environmental education work.
The VKoopUIS project Marine Data Infrastructure Germany is working on the development of a system for the coordinated implementation of legally required reporting and information obligations from UIG, MSRL, Natura 2000, INSPIRE, among others, which is to be implemented by means of a geodata infrastructure specially adapted for the marine sector.
Through the synergy effects resulting from the cooperation with other state and federal authorities within the MDI-DE, the NLPV hopes for a coordinated as well as fast implementation of the required legal duties in the form of standardized services.
NLPV and NLWKN act jointly for Lower Saxony in the MDI-DE project and provide a common data node based on the coastal database of NLPV.
Contact:
Michael Reetz
+49 4421 911-291
michael.reetz@nlpvw.niedersachsen.de
Michael Räder
+49 4421 911-295
michael.raeder@nlpvw.niedersachsen.de
Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority
Virchowstr. 1
26382 Wilhelmshaven
www.nationalpark-wattenmeer.de/nds
Since 2005, the tasks of water management and nature conservation to be performed directly by the state have been concentrated at the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation (NLWKN).
Environmental monitoring based on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) for the coastal area of Lower Saxony is one of the tasks of the NLWKN, whereby biological and chemical investigations are carried out in the estuaries, in the Wadden Sea and in the offshore coastal waters. The measurement programs on which this monitoring is based are coordinated within the framework of the Federal/State Working Group North Sea and Baltic Sea (BLANO).
The NLWKN coordinates the management planning of the WFD for the area of transitional and coastal waters in Lower Saxony and the implementation of the EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
For evaluations and reporting, standardized data and metadata available via the Internet play a central role. In addition to data provision, the MDI-DE is to support the reporting obligations (WFD, MSFD, INSPIRE) in order to be able to complete the tasks faster, more effectively and more cost-efficiently through better networked data sources.
Cooperation in the provision of data with the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration (NLPV) is being expanded within the framework of MDI-DE. NLWKN and NLPV appear together for Lower Saxony in the VKoopUIS project and provide a common data node.
Contact:
Jürgen Knaack
+49 441 95069-171
juergen.knaack@nlwkn.niedersachsen.de
Alexander Schroeder
+49 441 95069-173
alexander.schroeder@nlwkn.niedersachsen.de
Niedersächsischer Landesbetrieb für Wasserwirtschaft, Küsten- und Naturschutz, Betriebsstelle Brake-Oldenburg
Im Dreieck 12
26127 Oldenburg
www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de/nds
Funding
Half of the annual budget is provided by the federal government and half by the coastal states and is calculated according to the BLV Combating Marine Pollution (see HavKomErVbgG SH, Annex 2, §8).
VKoopUIS
In 2001, the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Ministries of the Environment of the Federal States concluded the agreement on cooperation in the conception and development of software for environmental information systems (VKoopUIS). Under this umbrella, projects in the field of environmental information systems are carried out jointly by partners.
MDI-DE was established in 2010 – 2013 as a network of distributed infrastructure nodes in a KFKI research and development project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). After project completion, partners from the federal government and the coastal states concluded an open-ended administrative agreement (VKoopUIS Project 49) in 2014 for the operation, maintenance and further development of the MDI-DE and agreed on future funding, organizational form and scope of services.