Baltic Sea: Highly sensitive semi-enclosed sea needs protection

On the occasion of the 9th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity, (CBD COP 9), the German NGO NABU warns that the projected Fehmarn Belt Bridge would pose a threat to biodiversity in the Baltic Sea . GSM shares this view. Construction would mean years of pollution and stress for the Belt’s environment. The pile driving process alone would displace harbour porpoises. Reduced stream velocity would entail a reduction in oxygen content and the Baltic Sea, which is already critically ill today, would suffer further damage.

Berlin/Fehmarn – On the occasion of the 9th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity, NABU highlights the projected Fehmarn Belt Bridge as a prime negative example of the EU’s misguided transport policy, which jeopardizes EU environmental policy. By this summer, the German Federal Minister for Transport, Wolfgang Tiefensee, plans to present a draft treaty to be concluded with Denmark . The treaty concerns the construction of the five million Euro bridge which would be 19 kilometers long and would connect the Baltic islands of Fehmarn and Lolland . NABU rejects this project on ecological and economic grounds alike. Says NABU CEO Leif Miller: “In Bonn politicians are talking about biodiversity and appealing to third world countries to act responsibly. Meanwhile they are planning a bridge right here in the heart of Europe that would pose an acute threat to the highly sensitive, semi-enclosed Baltic Sea habitat and its endangered species.”

According to NABU, the Fehmarn region is a so-called hotspot for bird migration. Some 20 million water birds cross the Fehmarn Belt each year. The planned cable-stayed bridge would be a serious obstacle for many highly threatened bird species, especially when visibility is low. Ships would be able to pass under the bridge via three 700 meter-wide passages. NABU fears that this will increase the risk of collisions on one of the world’s busiest waterways enormously. Recently, the Danish government commissioned an expert study on maritime safety in the Fehmarn Belt region. It will be produced by Femernbelt A/S, the subsidiary of one of the Danish government’ s consulting firms.

“Currently, some 66,000 vessels per year pass through the Belt. One accident involving a single-hulled tanker would suffice to contaminate the sensitive Baltic Sea ecosystem,” Miller explains. The decrease in the Baltic harbour porpoise population is already alarming. At the beginning of this year, NABU presented an expert study on shipping traffic in the region that challenges the prognoses and the basis of calculation of the governments of the Federal State of Schleswig Holstein and of Denmark . According to this report, construction costs are expected to soar. Miller: “We should shelve the idea of building this bridge just as quickly as the Transrapid monorail train.”