In this hot, dry summer, as Germany drags itself from one heat wave to the next, it is dawning on many that water is not a matter of course, but a vital resource, at least as valuable as gas or oil. The sun has been a friend to most people in cool, often rainy Germany for generations. water rather than enemy.
Bogs were laboriously drained to gain land for agriculture. Rivers were straightened and tamed to protect people from flooding. That was a big step forward for its time. In times of climate change, it becomes more and more of a problem. Burning forests, dried out fields and long queues at the drinking water fountains, which are still rare in German cities, show that the water has to be returned to the countryside.
It is therefore unfortunate that the rewetting of the moors, which is also important for the water balance, was excluded from the renaturation law, for which the EU parliamentarians voted last week with a narrow majority. The law stipulates that at least 20 percent of the areas and sea areas in the EU should be renatured by 2030: among other things, forests are to be reforested, cities greened and seagrass meadows planted. But the restoration of the moors, 95 percent of which are drained in Germany, is no longer explicitly mentioned – as a concession to the powerful farmer lobby, which fears losing arable land.
That is a very high price to pay for not having the bill rejected as a whole by parliamentarians. This is because rewetted bogs have the valuable ability to retain water in the landscape much longer than when drained. They can also cause the groundwater level to rise again, they cool the landscape and serve as natural flood protection. Farmers should know best: without the elixir of life, water, nothing will thrive, even on the largest field.