So far, 2973 species from 14 particularly relevant groups have been re-evaluated for the Red Lists. According to the current situation report, 6.5 percent are already extinct in Bavaria, 36.7 percent are endangered or threatened with extinction and another 7.6 percent are so rare that they have an increased risk of extinction. According to the report, there is a proportion of 45 percent of species with an endangered status across all species, but some significantly older data are included here.
According to the new surveys, the situation is particularly bad for reptiles. Amphibians, molluscs, butterflies, lichens and bees are also at above-average risk. In contrast, the situation is somewhat better for lacewings, mammals, breeding birds, dragonflies and mosses.
The forest suffers too. Between 2012 and 2021, the condition of the forest trees “deteriorated significantly,” according to the report. As of 2021, around 40 percent would have shown significant damage. This is almost twice as much as in 2012. Among other things, the “extremely dry and hot summers of recent years” have had an impact here.
However, the foreword to the report, which was submitted by the Supreme Nature Conservation Authority and the Ministry of the Environment, also states that the situation of nature has “improved noticeably in recent years”. This is linked to the fact that nature needs time to develop and that the return of biodiversity is a long-term process.
The chairman of the state parliament Greens, Ludwig Hartmann, warned: “Nature in Bavaria is getting more and more out of balance.” At the same time he attacked the state government. These fail “miles away because of the goals they have set themselves”. But there is a lack of will to implement it, because “goals alone do not help our endangered animals and plants in Bavaria a step further.”