Freie Wähler on the environment and animal welfare

The Free Voters want to reduce the wolf population and allow wolves to be hunted under uniform nationwide rules. They justify this with a growing number of attacks on grazing animals. Damage caused by wolves, bears, or lynx should be compensated without any cap.

The Free Voters want fewer wolves in Germany. Hunters should be allowed to hunt wolves under the same rules everywhere. The party says wolves kill more and more sheep and cattle. Farmers should get the full damage paid back.

The federal government should officially declare that the wolf has reached a favorable conservation status in Germany. Germany should actively back the downgrading of the wolf's protection status in the EU Habitats Directive. Hunting would pause while pups are being raised. Compensation would be based on breeding or market value, and in cases of doubt the authority would have to prove that no predator caused the damage. The platform also calls for wildlife management for beavers, rooks, otters, and cormorants.

The Free Voters reject the planned revision of the Federal Forest Act because they see too many detailed rules in it. The states should keep leeway for their own forest management. The existing hunting system with hunting cooperatives and hunting districts should stay unchanged.

There are plans for a new law on forests. The Free Voters are against it. They think the law has too many rules. The rules for hunting should also stay as they are today.

In the party's view, the draft law would endanger forests, forest owners, and forestry. Each state faces its own tasks in converting to climate-resilient forests because natural conditions differ. Instead of new rules, the platform calls for advice for forest owners and effective funding programs. The party rejects restrictions on hunting rights and added requirements for hunters, forest owners, and landowners.

The Free Voters want to reduce noise and air pollution near airports, roads and rail lines. Driving bans are to be avoided through innovation, and enforcing existing rules is to take priority over tougher laws.

Near roads, rail lines and airports it is often loud and the air is bad. The Free Voters want to change that. But they want to avoid driving bans. The state should first check whether everyone follows today's rules.

Under the platform, vehicle makers should prevent particulate and nitrogen oxide pollution at the source, and this should be treated as its own issue alongside greenhouse gases. Municipalities are still to be allowed to set their own rules and bans. The party opposes burdening entire groups of users across the board and demands that the state pursue violations to protect residents. Noise and particulates from rail traffic are also to be reduced further.

The Free Voters want effective groundwater protection and want the water supply to stay in public hands. Wastewater treatment plants that cover their own energy needs would receive support.

Clean drinking water matters to everyone. The Free Voters want to protect groundwater. Private companies should not take over the water supply. Treatment plants should make their own power.

The program treats clean drinking water as a public good and wants careful use of drinking and process water nationwide. According to the program, treatment plants are among a municipality's biggest energy consumers. The rollout of energy self-sufficient plants would be supported, which it says saves energy and eases wastewater fees over time. Wastewater and sewage gas would be included in municipal heat planning.

The Free Voters call for a federal funding program for basins that hold back rainwater. They also want cities to be planned with more green space and less land use so that they heat up less.

The Free Voters want federal money for rain basins. These basins collect rainwater. This should mean fewer floods. Cities should get more green areas. Then they stay cooler in summer.

The platform justifies the funding program by noting that small streams, not just rivers, increasingly cause damage, and that groundwater should be saved at the same time. The federal government should pay municipal wastewater utilities for disposing of surface water from federal highways. In urban planning, green areas and fresh-air corridors should carry cool air into city centers. Paved surfaces should be unsealed and infiltration areas linked up. Green facades and roofs should bind fine dust and pollutants. Land for transport and settlements should be used sparingly so that future generations keep room to plan.

The Free Voters want to ban microplastics in cosmetics, food and water and to promote sustainable alternatives. They also want to work nationally and internationally to protect the seas.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic. The Free Voters want to ban them. This applies to cosmetics, food and water. The party also wants to protect the seas better.

According to the platform, microplastics burden the environment and endanger health. They also raise wastewater fees, because the extra cleaning effort is passed on to all consumers, especially in urban areas. The platform describes the seas as the largest CO2 store and as home to great biodiversity. It says they are threatened by acidification, overfishing, warming and pollutants, which could speed up climate change.

The Free Voters want to quickly implement the right to repair proposed by the EU Commission and make products easier to recycle. Plastic waste, electronic scrap and scrap cars should no longer be exported but processed within Europe.

The Free Voters want a right to repair. Broken devices should be easier to fix. A label should show how well that works. Plastic waste and old devices should stay in Europe.

A scale shown at purchase should indicate how well a product can be repaired and recycled, and the share of recycled material should be stated. These rules should apply only to mass-market goods and larger production runs. Research into degradable or reusable materials should get more funding, in order to replace plastic rather than simply do without it. The platform justifies the waste export ban with undignified disposal conditions abroad. More raw materials, especially rare earths, should be recovered to reduce dependence on China.

The Free Voters aim for a Germany without animal testing and want to further develop cell cultures as a substitute. They also want to protect native nature and biodiversity.

The Free Voters want no more tests on animals. Researchers should work with cells in the lab instead. The party also wants to protect animals and plants in Germany.

According to the platform, cell cultures should become a full substitute and even allow tests tailored to individual patients. In nature conservation, landscape protection should have high priority. The platform warns about non-native species and wants to restore disturbed natural balance. It regards the farmed cultural landscape, as well as lakes, rivers and seas, as important for biodiversity.