After the World Nature Summit: Germany’s gaps in species protection

Environment Minister Lemke brought back a long list of tasks from the World Conference on Nature in Montreal. What to do now to fight species extinction.

After the World Conference on Nature in Montreal, Canada, the real work begins. “Implementation is always the most difficult thing,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke ARD-Interview. All ministers from Montreal would now take their homework home with them. This also applies to them.

Because Germany is not in a good position so far. “80 percent of the landscapes are in an ecologically poor condition,” warns Wolfgang Lucht, professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. This affects the forests, the water bodies and also the agriculturally heavily used landscape.

Germany far from the goal

Germany is a long way from the goal agreed in Montreal of protecting 30 percent of land and 30 percent of water, explains Josef Settele from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research: “We only have 17 to 18 percent of nature reserve areas, very roughly. “

Germany will have to protect significantly more areas in the next few years – with strict protection criteria. “In order to really protect or even promote biodiversity, you need effective protection and not just superficial measures,” says Lucht.

The federal government has significantly higher percentages for the protected areas. According to the Federal Environment Ministry, Germany has already reached the 30 percent target. The ministry includes all areas, including less protected areas.

More heavily protected areas

The “protected area” label says nothing about the quality of the protection, but says researcher Lucht. Germany must pay much more attention to better protection quality. Lucht warns: “What we don’t need are statistically calculated figures.”

Germany does not achieve its goals in the “wilderness areas” either. Two percent of all areas should be available for areas in which nature can develop freely and without restrictions. In fact, it’s only 0.6 percent, says Lucht. According to his observations, there are no political efforts to expand these areas.

Settele, who sits on the Federal Government’s Advisory Council for Environmental Issues, is also calling for more areas to be given a high level of protection.

Less Spitz means, different farming

However, more protected areas alone will not save biodiversity. All other areas such as agricultural land must also be better protected, the scientists demand. At the World Conference on Nature it was decided to reduce the use of pesticides by half by 2030.

According to the Pesticide Atlas 2022, the use of chemical sprays has been stagnating at a high level in Germany for years. Settele from the Helmholz Center is therefore calling for a “serious reduction” in pesticides in agriculture. He criticizes that the substances are still being used “excessively”. He points to studies that have shown that fewer sprays do not necessarily result in a smaller harvest.

The local agriculture needs to be rebuilt much more, demands Settele. Because: “We import too much feed for the animals or for meat consumption.”

In addition to the extinction of species in this country, Germany is also responsible for the extinction of species in the Global South. It would make more sense to grow food for the local people on the land abroad than feed for our animal husbandry, says Settele.

Elimination of environmentally harmful subsidies

Another important homework for Germany: the reduction of subsidies related to environmental and climate damage. According to the agreement of the World Conference on Nature in Montreal, subsidies of 500 billion US dollars are to be cut worldwide.

In Germany, too, there is a long list of subsidies, for example in the agricultural, energy and transport sectors, which promote environmentally harmful behavior, say environmentalists like Jannes Stoppel from Greenpeace. There are large pots, especially for agriculture, from which too much money flows into conventional and too little money into ecological agriculture.

“There is an urgent need for improvement and rededication,” said Stoppel. He demands that this money, which is spent by the state, by us taxpayers, demand more biodiversity protection. No more state money if the supporting measures are not at least environmentally and climate-neutral.

Lemke advocates agrarian reform

Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has similar plans. Together with her cabinet colleague and Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir, she is working on changing EU agricultural policy.

The Greens politician has announced a revised biodiversity strategy and an “Action Plan for Protected Areas” for Germany. Above all, existing protected areas are to be further developed. But Lemke also speaks of new criteria and checks to see whether the extinction of species will be stopped. Whether the measures are sufficient remains to be seen.

“There is now great progress in species protection,” says Lemke, referring to the World Conference on Nature Agreement, which she helped negotiate on site. There is tailwind in the fight against species extinction.

The agreements of the international community is a challenge – not only for distant countries, but also for the Federal Republic. The Green politician will have to be measured by whether and how successfully she implements the Montreal goals in this country.