“People gonna rise like the water, we’re gonna face this crisis now.”
The peace poets
The Weser is a river going from Hannoversch Münden via Bremen and Brake to Bremerhaven, where it flows into the North Sea. Before people impacted it heavily, the Weser was up to 8 m deep. But around 1400 A.D. people more and more started to do agriculture around and along the Weser. This led to erosion flowing into the Weser, which became so strong, that big ships could not manoeuvre to the bremer port anymore. A disaster for the trading companies in Bremen and around. As a solution different ports (until ~1830 the port of Vegesack, after that the port of Bremerhaven) were used as a substitute. There, the cargo was moved to smaller ships which then went to Bremen. But this was complicated and pricey. Therefore, plans were made to deepen the Weser so that modern, big ships could ride until Bremen.
Current plans
The deepening is part of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (FTIP). From the North Sea to Bremerhaven the Weser shall have a depth of 13,5 m (orange part in picture 1) and between Bremerhaven and Brake of 12,8 m (yellow part in picture 1). Like this, bigger cargo ships could go to the ports, that both cities inhabit.
According to the plan the deepening would bring financial prosperity to the region (Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur). However, this calculation is heavily questioned. If ecosystem services like the loss of “fresh water supply for agricultural production” in the Wesermarsch-region and the loss of „habitat and gene pool protection services“ in the bio-diverse river estuary are included in the calculation, the financial gain from a deepening would be drastically lower.
Nevertheless, the „Bremer Wirtschaftsverband Weser“ calls urgently for the deepening, as they want to stay competitive to other ports, for example to keep the jobs associated with the port alive. Also, with more ships in the harbor less trucks would be needed for the transportation of goods on the streets and up to 225.000 truck-rides could be saved, they say. That is why for climate issues and strategic relevance, they call for a deepening (Schönherr 2023b).
But not everyone agrees with this idea. For years and years local residents, farmers and environmentalists have organized dozens of actions against the deepening.
Background information:
Soy
Hundreds of thousands of tons of soy and soy meal arrive in Brake every year. The cruel and resource-intensive factory farming concept in Lower Saxony is only possible due to this heavy soy import (NDR 2025). The import of soy has drastic consequences for smallholder farms: While big agricultural companies profit from the import of soy, smaller farmers have more losses due to the import as the soy lowers the prices for cattle. (Rijk und Kuepper 2024). Like this the import of soy supports the imbalance of power in the agricultural sector and adds to the ongoing death of small farms.
But the production of soy is also harmful in other ways: As one of the main factors responsible for burning the Amazon, it leads to biodiversity loss & displacement and poisoning of local residents, especially Indigenous communities (Rajão et al. 2020; WWF Deutschland 2022).
Protest
The protest mainly stems from three interest groups: 1) local residents, 2) environmentalists and 3) farmers. Their critique on the deepening overlaps and they often work together.
The local residents find their representation in Weserschutz e.V. (Weser Protection Association). This association was founded in 2022. Their main critique points are environmental risks in and around the Weser like siltation, floodings, species loss and also the conditions for the local agriculture. They won the Umweltpreis Nordenham 2024. Together with the BUND Wesermarsch and several individual politically active people they form the “Aktionsbündnis Weserschutz” (Action Alliance Weser Protection).
They criticize the ecological damage resulting from the deepening, but also the harm done to the agricultural system. The farmers organizations involved are on the one hand AktionAgrar, on the other Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (Abl). They both advocate for a more sustainable agriculture that centers smallholder farms. They criticize the conditions for smallholder farms in Lower Saxony, but also question the deepening as part of a global food system that is rooted in neocolonial, capitalist structures and therefore harms people and societies all over the globe (but especially in the Global South). Local cattle farmers also fight against the deepening, as their livelihood is threatened by it. They are included in the Weser Protection Association.
2011:
BUND files a lawsuit
In 2011 the BUND filed a lawsuit at the Federal Administrative Court that ultimately stopped the deepening in 2016.
The BUND together with the WWF gathered data regarding the ecological consequences and the need for deepening. On this basis they turned to the court and started a lawsuit, which encouraged clarification of fundamental questions of water protection in the EU.
BUND had won a victory that would later be called ‘the mother of all water right cases’ (Linnartz 2016) and which protected not only the Weser but many more water bodies in the EU. Although this was a massive win, the deepening was again included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (FTIP) (as already mentioned above), because an exception to the rule is used, by stating that the deepening would contribute to german climate goals, by avoiding truck-rides (Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur).
„Blue band“-action in Nordenham
The group „Aktionsbündnis Weserschutz“ has organized a protest action in Nordenham (which is very close to Bremerhaven). Around 500 people -dressed in blue colors- lined up, holding blue bands with the imprint “Keine Weservertiefung” (NDR Niedersachsen 2021).
The Alliance criticizes the salinization of the water and ecological downgrades that come with the deepening. They say, in the face of the climate crisis, it is not acceptable that all these consequences should be suffered, just so that a port can achieve better profit margins and that the ships should adapt to the rivers, not the rivers to the ships (NWZ 2021).
Background information:
Water quality
Every time a river is deepened suspended sediment load is released and fluid mud builds up. Small organisms and bacteria start to decompose them, but for this process oxygen is needed. This leads to oxygen shortages in the water, that become especially drastic during warm periods (e.g. in summer). Without oxygen life in the river becomes difficult and the biodiversity is in crisis (BUND Landesverbände Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein 2024).
Also chemical poisons, that were released into the Weser from industry in the past decades come back to the surface thanks to the dredging (BUND Landesverbände Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein 2024).
2022:
Schlickwatching
The Action Alliance Weser Protection also organized an action which they called „Schlickwatching“. They gathered in the port of Großensiel (also near Bremerhaven) and took measurements of the water in the port which they then tested for their amount of salt. Apart from that they invited people to make art about the topic salt in the Weser (Schönherr 2023a).
District council of the Wesermarsch votes against deepening
The district council of the Wesermarsch unanimously passed a resolution calling on the state government of Lower Saxony to refuse to give its consent to the deepening. Apart from economical concerns they expressed worries about the tourism industry in the region (Schönherr 2023a).
Background information:
local agriculture and salt and silt
The local agriculture works with the water from the Weser. Via ditches the water is channeled for example to the meadows to provide water for cow herds. But the deepening makes the water more salty and builts up silt. Up to 20 grams per liter of water can be found in the Weser nowadays. Cattle and cows cannot drink water this salty. More and more farmers have to deal with symptoms of poisoning or aggressive behavior due to brain hemorrhages and oedema in their livestock and the evermore silt builds up on the Weser (Schönherr 2023b).
2023:
Collection of signatures
The Action Alliance Weser Protection collected more than 2.200 signatures for a petition against the deepening that were send to the state parliament of Lower Saxony. The petition warns about the ecological damage, the consequences for local farmers and the dangers for the whole region, for example that deepening the Weser makes extremely high tides and storm floods more probable (Kreiszeitung Wesermarsch 2023).
Dialogue of Brake
On 09.10.2023 in Brake the ministers for environment and economy Olaf Lies (SPD) and Christian Meyer (Grüne), gathered with local stakeholders to discuss the future of the Weser. The Action Alliance Weser Protection has done a protest outside of the meeting to make sure their interests are heard inside (Schönherr 2023a).
01.06.24 Demonstration (AktionAgrar & ABl)
2024
In June 2024 the non-governmental-organization AktionAgrar organized a demonstration together with the union for smallholder farms Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Lamdwirtschaft (AbL). They demand a fundamental change in the agricultural system as it is today, calling for an end of soy imports, which are the main material carried via the Weser (TopAgrar 2024).
What’s to come?
The protestors have achieved many things until now by building a movement. In every protest action the locals have done, they included the environmentalists. In the demonstrations of the farmers, it was recognized, that we live in a globalized system and the import of soy is especially harmful to indigenous communities living in Abya Yala (South America). Like this they showed how different topics and interests can be combined in one fight. The protest against the deepening of Weser is part of global struggles for water rights. And the struggle will continue. New activists join the fight for a just and sustainable water system, an ecological society and a sustainable agriculture. For example in May 2025 the anti-capitalist alliance Disrupt will organize an educational bike tour, that will start in Berlin and end in Brake, where they plan to organize a “Weser networking camp” to support the protests on the deepening (disrupt 2025).
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Background information:
Biodiversity
The Weser has a rich biodiversity. Many rare species live here, like the endangered “Neunauge” (Petromyzon marinus). This Biodiverse ecosystem is destroyed during the deepening. Due to the bad water quality and less oxygen, many fish suffocate under water or cannot swim through certain areas, which hinders their reproduction (BUND Landesverbände Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein 2024).
Also, life at the bottom of the river is killed, when dredging turns it upside down and moves it to a completely different area. Mussels, insect larvae, crabs, worms and many more die, which is also bad news for everyone who feeds on them: birds or bigger fish (BUND Landesverbände Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein 2024).
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As the famous song of the Peace Poet says: “People gonna rise like the water, we’re gonna face this crisis now.”
Literature
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