environmental Protection
Lemke wants to introduce legislation for more natural areas
“Lively and healthy nature needs enough space,” says Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens). photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Large, contiguous areas instead of individually protected areas: the Federal Environment Minister wants to spend money to create resilient biotopes.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) wants to introduce a law as quickly as possible to secure and provide more natural areas. “I will present the cornerstones for such a law by the summer,” said the Greens politician to the German Press Agency. “Lively and healthy nature needs enough space.”
“If something is built on a green field – such as wind turbines or roads – it has to be replaced somewhere else. That can be by creating a pond or reforesting an area that is fallow.” The idea behind this is that nature conservation should not deteriorate as a result of the construction of infrastructure. At the end of March, the traffic light coalition decided that more money could be paid as compensation in the future. However, so that this does not come at the expense of the environment, the money should be invested by the federal states in large, contiguous areas for nature conservation.
“Because only connected habitats create resilient biotopes,” said Lemke. “Spaces for an intact nature must therefore be brought together and upgraded faster and more effectively. To do this, we want to strengthen and expand the networking of areas.”
Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow (May 11/12), the environment ministers of the federal states will meet on the Petersberg near Bonn. Among other things, the conference should also deal with a secure water supply and natural climate protection measures, for example through moors.