Environmental Policy : Germany

Responsibility for environmental matters at the federal level lies with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Falling within its purview are the Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin, the Federal Office for Nature Conservation in Bonn and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in Salzgitter. Several of the federal states, too, have their own ministries for the environment. Cities, towns and municipalities have important environmental responsibilities as well.

The environmental policy of the Federal Government is based on three principles:

>the prevention principle: new projects are to be developed in such a way as to avoid pollution or damage as much as possible;

>the “polluter pays” principle: it is not the public at large but rather those causing the damage or pollution
who bear the responsibility for and the cost of removal; and

>the cooperation principle: government, the business community, citizens and groups in society join forces to solve environmental problems, since every individual is responsible for the environment. Compared to other countries, Germany has achieved a high standard of environmental protection. Stringent ceilings have been imposed - especially since the 1980s - on the discharge of harmful substances into the air and the aquatic environment from all pollution sources. It has thus been possible to markedly improve environmental quality in both the old and new states. In the 1990s, environmental policy will focus on measures to promote the more efficient use of energy, the closing of substance cycles and the reversal of land depletion trends.

But national measures are not sufficient in themselves, since polluted air knows no frontiers and contaminated rivers and seas abut many countries. In light of this, 178 nations at the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro committed themselves to embrace the common model of sustainable development. This concept reconciles improvements in the economic and social living conditions of all people with the long-term preservation of the natural sources of life. Coping with such global problems as climate change, depletion of the ozone layer and loss of biodiversity requires global cooperation. For this reason the Federal Government pursues an active international environmental policy, especially within the EU but also within many international organizations. Of exceptional importance are the international negotiations on climate protection. As the host of the First Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin, Germany is playing a very active role in this context.