FDP on the environment and animal welfare

The FDP wants to secure native biodiversity, protect peatlands and make forests more resilient through forest conversion. It relies mainly on voluntary agreements with owners and land managers rather than on mandates.

The FDP wants to protect animals and plants in Hesse. Peatlands should be kept and made wet again. Forests should get new, suitable tree species. The FDP relies on voluntary contracts with owners.

A risk-benefit analysis is to be introduced for the human-caused import of non-native animal and plant species, with preserving biodiversity as the top priority. Rewetting of peatlands is to be funded where needed, in line with the interests of owners and land managers. The FDP also calls for better forest and water management, restoration of water bodies and linking of isolated habitats. Near-natural and contiguous forests are to be preserved; in forest conversion, site-appropriate mixes of tree species should also secure economic viability. The state and municipalities should be able to raise public funds for conservation.

The FDP wants to counter the decline of insects with more research and measures derived from it. Hedges, flowering strips and green strips are to be developed further, and owners are to be compensated for restrictions on land use.

There are fewer and fewer insects. The FDP wants more research on this. There should be more hedges and flowering strips. People who can use their land less because of this should get money in return.

Funding is to go to field trials under open-air conditions in Hesse that test measures to protect biodiversity and evaluate them over the long term. Chemical and mechanical crop protection in farming is also to be optimized in this research. The platform lists more species-rich grassland, more nature in public spaces and less light pollution as goals. Roadside greenery is to serve biodiversity better, and removal of dangerous or invasive plants such as giant hogweed, ragweed and common ragwort is to keep receiving support. The effectiveness of all measures is to be reviewed independently.

The FDP wants Hessian animal shelters to be reliably funded and fully reimbursed when they carry out municipal duties. In return, uniform standards would apply and be checked regularly.

Animal shelters take care of lost animals. That is really a job for towns. The FDP wants shelters to get enough money for it. All shelters should follow the same rules. The veterinary office should check them every year.

The platform points to the shelters' work with lost and ownerless animals and to extra strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelters would have to meet statewide standards and be audited once a year by the veterinary office. When the EU regulation on invasive species is applied, shelters and rescue centers would get financial help for taking in, housing and rehoming such animals. The FDP also wants new state funding programs for animal-friendly breeding and husbandry and further development of the Animal Welfare Act.

The FDP wants a statewide water strategy that balances conflicts over groundwater between the Rhine-Main area and rural regions. It rejects a charge on water extraction and wants investment in supply networks and wastewater treatment.

The FDP wants a plan for water in Hesse. Cities and rural areas argue over groundwater. The plan should settle this. The FDP does not want a new fee for taking water. Pipes and treatment plants should be renewed.

The strategy is meant to balance the interests of the metropolitan area, agriculture and regions such as the Vogelsberg and the Hessian Ried. It should show how water infrastructure can be provided and maintained more efficiently, including through more cooperation between municipalities, and how towns can handle heavy rain through unsealing surfaces, evaporation and storage. The FDP wants investment in interconnected networks, long-distance pipelines and reservoirs to even out regional differences in availability. Harmful discharges should be reduced at the source using new technologies. Following Switzerland, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, a fourth treatment stage that removes trace substances would be expanded in wastewater plants.

The FDP wants to fund measures against excessive artificial light at night, especially in municipal lighting. It cites effects on health and heavy losses among insects.

Too much light at night harms people and animals. Many insects die at lamps. The FDP wants to give money so towns can change their lamps. Owners of homes and businesses should get advice. Businesses may keep the light they need.

The platform cites about 80 billion insects lost each year in Germany at public lighting alone. Funding would go to redesigning and retrofitting light sources. Advisory services would be set up for owners and users of private and commercial properties. Exemptions for lighting that businesses need to operate would remain.

The FDP wants to secure forestry use of Hesse's forests and rejects set-asides and blanket bans on use. The moratorium on felling beech is to be lifted, and FSC certification of state forests would no longer be mandatory.

The FDP wants forests to stay in use. It is against leaving one tenth of the state forest untouched. Old beech trees should be allowed to be cut again. The state forest company should decide on eco-labels itself. More buildings should be made of wood.

The state enterprise Hessen Forst would decide for itself which district is certified under FSC or another standard. The platform justifies rejecting set-asides with studies that it says show declining biodiversity in unmanaged forest. The beech moratorium in FFH protected areas would be replaced by concepts combining protection and use. The platform sees wood as a carbon store; timber construction and the use of hardwood would be promoted. Small private forests, forestry associations, climate-resilient mixed forests and contract-based conservation would get support.

The FDP wants to keep hunting law tied to land ownership and commits to the Revierjagdsystem (hunting district system). It rejects additional bureaucratic hurdles for hunters.

The FDP wants to keep hunting law as it is. Hunters should be able to act on their own responsibility. The FDP is against new hurdles for hunting. Red deer should be able to move across larger areas. Green bridges over roads should help with that.

The platform regards hunters as state-recognized conservationists who invest their own money and time in species protection and habitat care. It rejects ordinances and culling plans the FDP considers impractical, as well as general suspicion. Besides regulating game populations, predatory and invasive species should be controlled. To counter genetic decline in red deer, connected red deer regions should be created, for example with green bridges. Hunting policy should be guided by scientific findings.

The FDP wants to actively manage the wolf population in Hesse once federal law allows it, arguing that uncontrolled growth is incompatible with pasture farming. Where beavers and rooks cause damage, removal or shooting and compensation payments should also become possible.

The FDP wants to limit the number of wolves in Hesse. First the federal government must allow this. Wolves should be counted better. Beavers and rooks also cause damage. Farmers and fish breeders should get money for that. Where damage is high, animals may be removed.

In the FDP's view, the wolf has already reached favorable conservation status in Hesse; it does not want ever-higher fences because of wildlife migration routes. Wolf monitoring would be professionalized and a population study commissioned. Problem wolves should be identified as such; the platform says removing them is already legal. For beaver conflicts, prevention would be funded and compensation paid, and removal allowed where damage is high. For rooks, shooting permits would be granted without red tape in cases of acute economic damage, along with compensation.

The FDP wants fishing that preserves stocks and sees club angling as practical conservation that deserves state support. Hydropower plants should not block the spawning migration of fish.

The FDP wants to support fishing. Angling clubs look after rivers and lakes and so protect nature. Hydropower plants should not stop fish from migrating. If they harm fish, they should be rebuilt. New plants are only allowed if fish can still migrate.

The needs of inland fishing should be considered when implementing the EU Water Framework Directive. The effects of hydropower plants on fish stocks would be studied. Where stocks are harmed, plants would be modified. New plants would be approved only if they do not interfere with spawning migration.

The FDP wants to promote reuse of building materials and, together with municipalities, create new landfill capacity for construction waste. In the platform's view, missing landfill space and complicated rules for excavated soil drive up building costs.

Building creates a lot of rubble and soil. There are too few landfills for it. That makes building more expensive. The FDP wants to reuse more building materials. It wants to create new landfills together with towns.

A state funding program could offer financial incentives for new landfills. If that is not enough, Hesse should seek a federal rule through the Bundesrat that entitles and obliges states to intervene in local self-government so that enough landfill space is kept available. The FDP considers Hesse's backfilling guideline unworkable in practice. It wants a uniform analysis method for sampling construction waste.

The FDP wants to make greater use of local building materials such as sand and gravel, including in Bannwald (specially protected forest). The stricter Bannwald protection passed by the CDU-Green government is to be reversed. The platform justifies this with construction costs and security of supply.

The FDP wants more sand and gravel to be dug in Hesse. This should also be possible in Bannwald. Bannwald is forest with very strict protection. The stricter rules of the last government should go. The FDP says this keeps building from getting more expensive.

According to the platform, building materials from Hesse serve housing construction, transport routes, flood protection and the energy transition. In the FDP's view, short transport distances spare the environment and infrastructure. Sand and gravel extraction in Bannwald is explicitly included. The platform states that only 0.5 percent of Hesse's Bannwald area would be affected by possible extraction.