Positive trend – but greater efforts are needed
Today, at the proposal of Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, the Federal cabinet adopted the first progress report on implementation of the National Strategy on Biological Diversity. The general trend is positive, but greater efforts are needed. In many areas, for example sustainable forestry, reducing land sealing and cutting excess nitrogen in agriculture, we are moving in the right direction.
Halting the decline in diversity of wild species remains a key challenge, despite some success. A new challenge for implementing the National Strategy on Biological Diversity is the Energiewende, the transformation of the energy system, which a top priority for the German government. Over the coming years, one of the fundamental tasks will be to increase the share of renewable energies, which in itself represents a contribution to biodiversity conservation, but at the same time to ensure that the generation and use of renewable power does not have a detrimental impact on biological diversity.
The National Strategy on Biological Diversity, adopted in 2007, prescribes this success monitoring once per legislative period. The strategy contains over 300 goals and 400 measures geared to conserving biodiversity in Germany and worldwide. The report outlines how far we have come on the path to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and where there is further need for action. It focusses on around 50 selected goals and summarises success monitoring.