New competence centre for UXO clearance

The Centre for Management of Munitions in the Marine Environment in Schleswig-Holstein, MUNIMAR for short, will commence work in the coming weeks. The new competence centre will bundle Schleswig-Holstein's activities on UXO clearance and optimise the institutional exchange between the actors, also beyond the state borders.

‘With MUNIMAR, we are bringing together our knowledge on the topic of munitions in the sea and optimising the exchange between science, administration and industry,’ says Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt. In addition to the Federal Ministry for the Environment's immediate action programme for munitions in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, which has a financial scope of 100 million euros, the newly founded centre is intended to strengthen the topic of UXO clearance. ‘Together, we can succeed in restoring the seas off our coasts to a good condition for future generations. The recovery of World War II munitions is an important step in this direction,’ emphasises Goldschmidt.

The structure of the competence centre

The MUNIMAR Competence Centre consists of three pillars: administration, science and economy.

GEOMAR is responsible for the ‘Science’ pillar. It advises project sponsors and research institutions, maintains the scientific network and identifies gaps in research. ‘GEOMAR has been conducting research into the principles for clearing munitions off our coasts for many years. The expertise of Professor Jens Greinert and his working group on deep-sea monitoring and Eric Achterberg on dealing with leaking pollutants can now be used in this centre to develop specific projects and technologies for dealing with unexploded ordnance in the sea,’ says GEOMAR Director Professor Dr Katja Matthes.

The ‘Administration’ pillar will coordinate the federal and state authorities. The aim is to achieve uniform standards for application and authorisation procedures and reduce bureaucracy. In addition, the various measures for munitions clearance at sea can be prioritised and coordinated and central decisions on the disposal of recovered munitions can be made. Long-term funding is also coordinated via the administrative pillar.

The ‘Economy’ pillar ensures the networking of all economic players involved. The aim is to achieve local value creation, which could result, for example, from the development of new technologies for the UXO clearance.