Vor

Section Two:
Environmental Monitoring and Surveillance, Landscape Planning
Article 12
Environmental Monitoring and Surveillance

(1) Environmental monitoring and surveillance is incumbent upon the Federation and the Federal Laender within the framework of their respective responsibilities.

(2) It is the purpose of environmental monitoring to assess, evaluate and validate the status of the ecosystem and any changes thereof, the consequences of such changes, impacts on the ecosystem, and the effects of environmental protection measures on the ecosystem.

(3) In environmental monitoring and surveillance, the Federal Government and the Federal Laender shall provide mutual support to one another. They shall harmonize and coordinate their respective monitoring and surveillance measures ensuing from paragraph 2 above.

(4) The legal provisions governing confidentiality and data protection remain unaffected.

(5) The Federal Laender may lay down additional rules and regulations to be applicable within their respec­tive geographical scope.

Article 13
Tasks and Responsibilities of Landscape Planning

(1) It is the task of landscape planning to set out the requirements and measures of nature conservation and landscape management for the planning area concerned and to provide appropriate reasons for the measures planned. Landscape planning also serves to implement the aims and principles of nature conservation and landscape management in other plannings and administrative procedures the resultant decisions of which may have an impact on nature and landscape in the planning area concerned.

(2) The Federal Laender shall lay down rules and regulations on landscape planning and the applicable pro­cedure in conformity with the provisions of Articles 13 to 17.

Article 14
Contents of Landscape Planning

(1) The requirements and measures of nature conservation and landscape management shall be set out in landscape programmes (Landschaftsprogramme) or landscape master plans (Landschaftsrahmenpläne) and in landscape plans (Landschaftspläne). Such plans shall contain information about:

1.     the existing and anticipated status of nature and landscape

2.     the concretized aims and principles of nature conservation and landscape management

3.     the assessment and evaluation of the existing and anticipated status of nature and landscape on the basis of these aims and principles, including any resultant conflicts

4.     the requirements and measures needed

a)     to avoid, reduce or eliminate adverse effects on nature and landscape

b)     to protect, manage or develop certain parts or components of nature and landscapes in conformity with Section 4, as well as the biotopes and biocoenoses of wild fauna and flora species

c)     in areas which, by virtue of their status, location or natural development potential are particularly suitable for prospective measures of nature conservation and landscape management or for the de­velopment of a network of interlinked biotopes

d)     to develop and protect the European ecological network “Natura 2000”

e)     to protect, improve the quality of and allow regeneration of soils, waterbodies, air and climate

f)      to preserve and develop the diversity, characteristic features and beauty of nature and landscapes, also with a view to fundamental human experience, enjoyment and recreation.

The format of graphs, legends, maps or similar material from landscape planning shall allow their inclusion in spatial/ regional plans (‘Raumordnungspläne’) and building master plans (‘Bauleitpläne’).

(2) Plannings and administrative procedures shall take account of the contents of landscape planning. In particular, the contents of landscape planning shall be taken into consideration in environmental assess­ments or when assessing compatibility within the scope of Article 34 paragraph 1. As far as relevant deci­sions cannot be geared to the contents of landscape planning, appropriate reasons shall be provided.

Article 15
Landschaftsprogramme (‘landscape programmes’) and Landschaftsrahmenpläne (‘landscape master plans’)

(1) Supra-local requirements and measures of nature conservation and landscape management shall be set out in Landschaftsprogramme (‘landscape programmes’) covering the entire territory of a Federal Land, or in Landschaftsrahmenpläne (‘landscape master plans’), each relating to a specific area of the Federal Land, to be drawn up for the entire territory of the Federal Land concerned. Such programmes and plans shall comply with the objectives of spatial planning and take account of the principles and other requirements of spatial planning.

(2) The requirements and measures of relevance for spatial/ regional planning referred to in paragraph (1) above shall, after weighing them against the other plans and measures envisaged for a given area, be incor­porated into the regional planning programmes (Raumordnungspläne) in conformity with relevant planning legislation of the Federal Land concerned.

Article 16
Landschaftspläne (‘landscape plans’)

(1) Local requirements and measures relating to nature conservation and landscape management shall be set out in detail for the entire area of the Federal Land concerned in Landschaftspläne (‘landscape plans’) drafted on the basis of the Landschaftsprogramm (‘landscape programme’) or the Landschaftsrahmenpläne (‘landscape master plans’). The ‘landscape plans’ shall be updated when any significant changes to land­scape are envisaged, or to be expected. The objectives of spatial planning shall be complied with; the prin­ciples and other requirements of spatial planning shall be taken into account.

(2) It is incumbent upon the Federal Laender to rule on the binding character of the Landschaftspläne (‘landscape plans’), particularly with regard to Bauleitplanung (municipal development planning). They may rule that contents of ‘landscape plans’ are included in Bauleitpläne (building master plans) for describ­ing or stipulating specific features or requirements. They may furthermore provide that the requirement to prepare a ‘landscape plan’ may be waived for parts of municipal areas if the predominant use of the respec­tive area is in conformity with the aims and principles of nature conservation and landscape management and if this has been assured and established in conformity with the provisions of relevant planning legisla­tion.

(3) If, in the Federal Laender of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, the local requirements and measures of na­ture conservation and landscape management are set out in the Landschaftsprogramm (‘landscape pro­gramme’) or in Landschaftsrahmenpläne (‘landscape master plans’), these plans shall be deemed to substi­tute the Landschaftspläne (‘landscape plans’).

Article 17
Co-operation among the Federal Laender in the Field of Planning

(1) When preparing programmes and plans pursuant to Articles 15 and 16, the Federal Laender shall take appropriately into consideration that the implementation of the aims and principles of nature conservation and landscape management in the territory of neighbouring Federal Laender and in the Federal Republic of Germany as a whole, and the interests of nature conservation and landscape management in neighbouring countries, should not be affected or hampered.

(2) If planning going beyond the territory of a single Federal Land is necessary in view of the prevailing natural conditions, the neighbouring Laender concerned, when drawing up the programmes and plans under Articles 15 and 16, shall consult with each other to jointly define the requirements and measures for the area concerned.

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