Local Perception and Preferences for Landscape and Land Use in the Fischland-Darß-Zingst Region, German Baltic Sea.

Abstract

Through state-of-the art ecosystem modelling supported by ecological experimental data, the COMTESS Project (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) investigates potential trade offs in ecosystem service provision under different climate impact and land-use scenarios in two German coastal areas till 2100. Land-use scenarios were developed within the project for two study regions on the Baltic and North Sea coasts to contrast a control Business-as-usual scenario. In this paper we focus on the Baltic case study region. The premise of COMTESS alternative coastal land use scenario is the managed realignment of current dikes inland for: 1) Carbon Storage (and wetland re-naturation) or 2) Multiple Land Use (incl. biomass harvesting for energetic purposes). Managed Realignment is assumed to lower long-term costs of hard coastal defence, restore critical carbon sinks and liberate much needed areas to compensate ecological destruction elsewhere. Though politically highly controversial and facing much public antagonism, Managed Realignment is effectively embedded in the current coastal management policy of the state of Mecklenburg West Pomerania. Implementation, nevertheless, faces many obstacles. The goal of this paper is to explore consistencies and discrepancies in the views of policy, management practitioners and sectoral representatives with respect to the COMTESS coastal land-use strategies for the Dars-Zingst region on the eastern German Baltic coast. Based on participatory, empirical qualitative social science research methods we analyse stakeholder opinions, perspectives and argumentations regarding coastal land use and Managed Realignment. This contributes to evaluate and complement the rationale of the ecological and economic modelling embedded in the project through the formulation of a fourth, “expert-based”, land-use scenario. A growing consensus on the necessity in future for localised land abandonment and some form of