SDG 15
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, manage forests sustainably, combat desertification, end and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
§ Act for the restoration of damaged ecosystems.
In the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020, the EU Commission sets itself the task of developing a proposal for legally binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems in the EU. The focus of the legislation will be on those ecosystems that have the potential to sequester CO2 and mitigate or prevent the effects of natural disasters. These legally binding targets, to be implemented by 2030, need a new legal instrument, a restoration law. A legislative proposal to this effect is currently being drafted and is expected at the EU level in 2021. Once adopted, this legal instrument must also be applied at the national level. Its development and implementation must be addressed by the Bundestag in the next legislative period together with all relevant civil society stakeholders.
For further reading and discussion:
https://eeb.org/library/restoring-europes-nature-ngo-position-paper/
Industrial mining of gravel, sand, gypsum and other rocks is also advancing in Germany. For this reason, a reform of the completely outdated Federal Mining Act (BBergG) is urgently needed. With regard to gypsum, there is also a need to reform the regulations on regional planning programs and plans and the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) for gypsum mining in the interests of climate, resource and biodiversity protection as well as the protection of those affected by mining in the case of new openings and expansions of mining areas. The amendment of the BbergG and the BImSchG for gypsum mining must be based on long-term public welfare aspects and not just on current demand or the profit motives of a private mining company. In the future, there must be no mining in protected areas, and for security of supply, the focus must be on recycling and thus on secondary raw materials such as recycled concrete or recycled gypsum. Better recycling of gypsum must be ensured by drawing up a program of measures to set binding deadlines and phase-out scenarios for natural gypsum mining by 2040 and to replace the FGD gypsum that will be eliminated as a result of the coal phase-out. The introduction of a mandatory recycling quota for gypsum, as well as the setting of a limit value for asbestos fibers in RC gypsum can make a decisive contribution to this process. The building material must be replaced (where possible and ecologically sensible) by more recyclable alternatives and generally less gypsum must be consumed. The aim must be to avoid opening up new mining areas for natural gypsum.
For further reading and discussion:
http://www.grueneliga.de/images/ErfurterErklaerung.pdf
https://www.dnr.de/publikationen/themenhefte/broschuerebundesberggesetz/
https://www.kein-tagebau.de/images/_ dokumente/2021_01_11_Stellungnahme_Bergrecht_BUND_DNR_GP_GL.pdf
§ Amendment of the Federal Mining Act and the Federal Immission Control Act
§ Ensure minimum ecological standards of forest management in the Federal Forest Act.
To protect and preserve biodiversity in our forests and against the backdrop of the advancing forest crisis, an ecological forest turnaround is overdue: Germany's forests must be treated much more gently in order to better withstand the consequences of the climate crisis. This includes ecologically compatible forest management that intervenes as gently as possible in the forest ecosystem for timber production. Only then will we be able to harvest the environmentally friendly raw material wood in the long term. Minimum ecological standards for forest management must be defined and made binding in the Federal Forest Act. These include the protection of forest soil and biotope trees, as well as a ban on clear-cutting and the promotion of native broadleaf trees. To protect the forest floor, wide clearing distances (minSDG 15 destens 40 meters), a limit on the weights of forestry machines, and a ban on driving over large areas of the forests must be established. Biotope trees and deadwood must be better protected as essential habitats for often highly endangered forest inhabitants. Particularly in old, near-natural forests, parts of the wood stock should be left permanently on the land as standing and lying deadwood, as biotope trees, as old forest parts and old trees. For the public forest there should be obligatory rules for this and for the private forest this should be achieved through appropriate financial support. In order to protect forests from the climate crisis, large-scale thinning or even clear-cutting should be prohibited because it is bad for the forest's internal climate and the forest floor. In this way, forests can once again contribute more to cooling the landscape, to water retention and to groundwater recharge.
For further reading and discussion:
https://www.bund.net/waelder/waldkrise/
In September 2019, the German Federal Cabinet adopted an Action Program for Insect Protection (APIS) to counteract the dramatic decline of insects in Germany. For the implementation of the agreed measures, three draft bills for the amendment of existing and the design of new sub-legal ordinances have now been approved by the federal cabinet: Amendments to the Nature Conservation Act, the amendment of the Plant Protection Application Ordinance and a new implementing ordinance for biocidal products. The amendment to the Federal Nature Conservation Act was passed by the Bundestag in June 2021. However, a considerable need for revision of this legislative package can already be seen, as important elements of the APIS were not taken into account or were deleted again during the negotiations. This applies in particular to restrictions on the use of pesticides and biocides. Three necessary improvements should be pointed out in particular: 1) The legally binding implementation of a "refugial area approach" to make the application of broad-spectrum herbicides, other biodiversity-damaging herbicides and biodiversity-damaging insecticides dependent on the existence of refugial areas on and adjacent to application areas (cf. APIS, 4.2). 2) The extension of the application bans for pesticides and biocides with special relevance for insects in all areas requiring special ecological protection, such as in FFH areas and in bird sanctuaries with significance for insect protection (cf. APIS 4.1). 3) The broad exemptions from the application ban in the areas requiring special protection, as granted by the law, jeopardize the protection objective and must be revised.
For further reading and discussion:
https://pan-germany.org/pestizide/insektenschutzpaket-vombundeskabinett-beschlossen/