Nature Conservation And Sustainable Use Of Nature : Germany

The general objective of the Federal Government’s nature conservation policy is to safeguard biological diversity, both because it is a foundation of human life and because we have a responsibility to preserve creation. In addition to the diversity of species, biological diversity includes the diversity of habitats and the genetic diversity within the populations of a particular species. The amendment to the Federal Nature Conservation Act spells out the aims and principles of this policy. Of the approximately one million wild animal species and nearly 400,000 wild plant species thus far identified worldwide, nearly 45,000 animal species and some 28,000 plant species are found in Germany.

The pool of species is generally declining. 50 percent of the vertebrate species in Germany are classified as endangered; five percent are registered as extinct. A third of all plant species are also considered threatened or extinct. The main causes of the decline of species are:

>the strains on and destruction of habitats, for example from the spread of human settlements and transport networks and from the old agricultural practice of “clearing” landscapes;