Title

Ecological status / value of Alpine rivers

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Abstract

The pan–Alpine overview of the river network is based on official data provided by national/regional administration. Most of the data are part of national river basin management plans reported in the frame of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD defines obligations to assess the ecological status of all rivers. Biological quality elements, such as fishes or benthic invertebrates, serve as indicators to classify rivers into five ecological status classes ranging from high (1) to bad (5) ecological status. Based on the WFD, all natural rivers have to reach at least a good ecological status, while artificial (AWB) or heavily modified waterbodies (HMWB) have to reach a good ecological potential. Rivers with a good ecological status may only show slight deviations from a river with high ecological status (i.e. with only minor or no anthropogenic impacts). Furthermore, there is a prohibition to cause a deterioration of the ecological status. This clear and fundamental mission for protection is specifically addressed by highlighting the “ecological status” within the Alpine Arc. Ecological status (EU countries) and ecological value (a surrogate parameter for Switzerland based on Muhar et al. 2013) were assembled from national data. It should be noted, that some regions of the Alpine Arc show a high amount of rivers designated with “high or good ecological status”. This can be explained e.g. by the application of different monitoring approaches. Additionally, for some regions big data gaps were identified by spatial analyses within SPARE. Thus, the ‘overall picture’ has to be viewed in the light of these partly biased results. More detailed information including the evaluation process can be found in the “Report on the status of Alpine river ecosystems” (https://spare.boku.ac.at/media/other/D.T4.1.1_Pan_Alpine_GIS_database_inclAnnex_20181114.pdf).

Publication Date

Jan. 1, 2009, 9:12 a.m.

Type

Vector Data

Keywords

RSA6

Category

Water

Inland water features, drainage systems and their characteristics. Examples: rivers and glaciers, lakes, water utilization plans, dams, currents, floods, water quality, hydrographic charts

Regions

Alps

Responsible

AlpineConvention

Group

PSAC - Permanent Secretariat Alpine Convention

More info

-

Maintenance Frequency

There Are No Plans To Update The Data

Restrictions

Some limitations apply to the access or use of the data

Purpose

This pan-Alpine overview was prepared within the project SPARE (Strategic Planning for Alpine River Ecosystems), a project aiming at contributing to a further harmonization of human use requirements and protection needs (visit www.alpine-space.eu/projects/spare for more information). SPARE lasted from December 2015 to December 2018 and was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space Programme.

Language

English

Supplemental Information

Data sources (National river networks, ecological status/ecological value and catchment size):
-Basin Authority for the River Po (ADBPO: 2016),
-Basin Authority for the Rivers Soča, Tagliamento, Livenza, Piave, Brenta Bachhiglione (ADBVE: 2016),
-Provincial Administration of South Tyrol (APB: 2005, 2009, 2014),
-Slovenian Environmental Agency (ARSO: s.a.,2013, 2015, 2016),
-Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016),
-Energieatlas Bayern (2016),
-Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW: 2015) –Section IV/3 (National and International Water Management),
-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU: 2018),
-Cantons of Switzerland (s.a.),
-Cartographic application at the service of environmental data (CARMEN: 2011),
-Swiss Wildlife Mapping Center (Info Fauna – CSCF: 2017),
-French Public Information Service on Water and Aquatic Environments (Eaufrance: 2013),
-Swiss Federal Institution of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG: 2011),
-International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR: 2015),
-French National Institute for Research in Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA: 2013),
-Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment, Health and Consumer Protection (LfU: 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015),
-Regione Liguria (2013),
-Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (GURS: 2004),
-Austrian Federal Environment Agency (UBA: 2011) - Umweltbundesamt GmbH,
-European Environment Agency (EEA: 2012, 2015, 2016) © European Environment Agency - www.eea.europa.eu/legal/copyright,
-WWF Switzerland (s.a.),
-OpenStreetMap Switzerland (2018) © OpenStreetMap contributors ( License ),
-CCM River and Catchment Database 2.1 (2008), © EC – JRC 2007;

WMS link at http://www.atlas.alpconv.org/geoserver/ows?service=wms&version=1.3.0&request=GetCapabilities

Spatial Representation Type

vector data is used to represent geographic data

Layer WMS GetCapabilities document