Grüne on the environment and animal welfare

The Greens want to implement the demands of the Volksinitiative Artenvielfalt (citizens' initiative on biodiversity), signed by 115,000 people. The state's biodiversity strategy is to be updated and backed by a state program with concrete measures. The program justifies this with the ongoing loss of species and habitats.

Many animal and plant species are in danger. In the state, 115,000 people signed a petition for more species protection. The Greens want to carry out these demands. A new state program is meant to do this.

The state biodiversity strategy is to get more ambitious targets based on current data. The 40 biological stations are to be better equipped and linked with each other and with the biodiversity monitoring center in Bonn. Nature conservation groups are to receive more support. Reintroduction projects and conservation breeding are to be run together with scientifically managed zoos. Rivers and floodplains are also to be restored and species-friendly farming supported.

The Greens want to limit the sealing of new land and write the target back into the state development plan. Daily land use is to fall first to 5 hectares and to net zero by 2035. The plan includes a levy on soil sealing and a program to unseal land.

Every day, more than 8 hectares of land in the state are newly built on. The Greens want to limit this to 5 hectares first. By 2035, no additional land should be used up on balance. Anyone who seals soil should pay a levy.

In the long run, more land is to be unsealed than newly sealed. A strategy with operational targets and a soil-sealing levy is meant to secure this. A brownfield fund and more money for land recycling are to make previously used sites available again. A new compensation model is to give more weight to the ecological quality of replacement areas.

The Greens want to build a statewide habitat network and make the Senne the state's second national park. Pesticides and mineral fertilizer are to be banned in protected areas. The aim is to reconnect fragmented habitats and give endangered species more refuge.

Roads and towns cut animal habitats apart. The Greens want to connect these habitats across the state. The Senne area should become a national park. Pesticides should be banned in protected areas. Pesticides are poisons against pests and weeds.

The state landscape program is to be reintroduced and set binding requirements for regional plans on habitat and species protection, with stream and river floodplains playing a special role. Conservation groups are to get a right of first refusal for land in protected areas. A pesticide reduction strategy is planned for all land, and protected areas are to get legally binding ordinances with measurable conservation targets. The Teutoburg Forest is to be protected from clearing and further quarrying by the cement industry. Bogs, wetlands and grassland are to be better protected as carbon stores and their water balance improved.

The Greens want to protect biodiversity in cities too, by making better use of existing building land and preserving green spaces. Gravel gardens are to be ruled out through the state building code, and pesticides are no longer to be used outside agriculture. Rules against light pollution are also planned in state law.

Animals and plants should have room in cities too. The Greens do not want to build on green spaces. Gravel gardens should no longer be allowed. Gardens and parks should be free of pesticides. At night, fewer lights should be on where they are not needed.

The plan includes tree planting, green roofs and facades, strong municipal tree protection bylaws and restored waterways. Roadside vegetation is to be maintained in an insect-friendly, ecological way across the state. Light emissions are to be avoided where safety does not require them, for example through gentler light sources and rules for new housing areas. The program argues that nocturnal animals lose their habitat when darkness disappears.

The Greens want to give wolves habitat in North Rhine-Westphalia while securing livestock grazing. The state is to manage the wolf population so that sheep farms and other livestock keepers can stay in business.

Wolves live in the state again. The Greens want them to have room here. Sheep and other grazing animals should still be safe. The state should help farmers protect their animals.

Under the program, livestock keepers should not bear herd protection alone. The state is seen as responsible for managing the wolf population. Grazing is to be preserved because it serves flood protection on dikes and biodiversity on grassland, heaths and bogs.

The Greens want to give environmental authorities more money and staff so that environmental laws are actually enforced. The former task force on environmental crime is to return, and a specialized public prosecutor's office is to investigate statewide.

The Greens want environmental laws to be followed better. Environmental offices should get more money and more staff. A special prosecutor's office should pursue crimes against the environment. People should be able to report problems to an independent office.

A plan for the future is to improve funding and staffing of the environmental administration, with campaigns and financial incentives to attract skilled workers. Independent complaint offices, known as Grüne Telefone (green phones), are to become standard at all levels. The administration is to be digitized under statewide standards. Contract-based conservation for measures beyond the legal minimum is to be expanded, including with federal funds. The reinstated task force is to act as a central coordinating body linking agencies, police and prosecutors.

The Greens want to bring state-owned natural areas together in an independent foundation and thereby protect them from privatization. By buying and exchanging land, a permanently protected habitat network open to everyone is to be created.

The state owns many natural areas. The Greens want to put them into a foundation. That way no one can sell them to private owners. The foundation should buy more land. Everyone should be able to visit nature there.

The foundation is to be legally independent and cooperate with the federal real estate agency (Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben). It is to buy land actively and exchange land for projects of statewide importance. The program argues that natural heritage is under pressure from privatization and urban sprawl and must not be withdrawn from the public.

The Greens want to steer forestry in the state toward near-natural, species-rich permanent forests, on public and private land alike. The forestry act is to be expanded into a state forest act. The program cites forests' role as carbon sinks and water stores and the strain the climate crisis puts on them.

Forests store carbon and water. The Greens want to protect forests better. Forests should have many different kinds of trees. A new forest law should set the rules. Forest owners should get money and advice for this.

More wilderness areas, such as the Hambach Forest and adjoining land, are to be designated as reference areas. Funding programs for forest owners are to be expanded step by step and given an ecological focus, including through contract-based conservation. Forestry associations and new citizens' forest cooperatives are to receive support, as are municipalities in wildfire prevention. Game populations are to be regulated so that forests can regenerate naturally. Timber from regional forests is to be used more as a building material, with public buildings leading the way.

The Greens want to reduce nitrate, pesticides, drug residues and microplastics entering water bodies. Manufacturers are to share the costs of water treatment through a polluter fund and a reformed wastewater levy. The party rejects natural gas extraction and fracking, also for reasons of drinking water protection.

The Greens want clean drinking water. Harmful substances should not get into the water. Those who pollute water should help pay for cleaning it. The Greens reject fracking. Public squares should offer free drinking water.

Existing water protection rules are to be enforced strictly, and sustainable forms of land use and livestock farming supported. Reuse of wastewater and storage of rainwater are to be regulated, along with incentives to save water. Treatment technology is to be improved and its funding secured. Municipalities are to get legal and organizational help to provide drinking water in public places. The European Drinking Water Directive is to be implemented in full.

The Greens want to revise the state water act and again give drinking water protection priority over the interests of the limestone, cement and gravel industries. Extraction of raw materials in water protection areas is to be banned once more. Rivers and streams are to become more natural, also as a precaution against flooding.

The Greens want to change the state's water law. No one should be allowed to dig gravel or limestone in water protection areas. Rivers and streams should flow more naturally again. They should get more room. This should also protect against floods.

A “Zukunftsstrategie Wasser” (future strategy for water) is to respond to the effects of the climate crisis and also govern how water resources are distributed. The requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive are to be met. Near-natural water development with bogs, floodplain forests and wet meadows is to be anchored more firmly in planning and law, along with natural retention areas and relocated dikes. Small hydropower plants are to be developed ecologically, with fish-friendly plants given preference. Streams running through pipes in cities are to be uncovered where possible.

The Greens want to enforce air pollution limits consistently and expand the monitoring network in North Rhine-Westphalia. The platform argues that exceeding limits endangers health and should be fixed before lawsuits arise.

The Greens want cleaner air. Pollution limits should apply everywhere. There should be more measuring stations. Air should also be measured at airports and in residential areas.

Municipalities and counties would get help meeting the limits before anyone sues. A state program would improve the monitoring network and cover airports, river ports and residential areas. Ultrafine particles, which are not currently recorded, would be measured systematically. The party backs applying the limits recommended by the World Health Organization across the EU. Environmental justice is to be considered in all policy areas.

The Greens want to cap animal transports to and from North Rhine-Westphalia at four hours and end live transports to non-EU countries. In slaughterhouses, stricter checks and changed work practices are meant to improve animal welfare.

The Greens want to protect animals better. Animal transports should last 4 hours at most. Transports to countries outside the EU should stop. Slaughterhouses should get more checks and cameras.

A state livestock strategy is meant to improve conditions in the state's barns. In slaughterhouses, piecework would end for driving, stunning and killing animals; independent inspectors and comprehensive video monitoring would be added. The party calls for mobile and decentralized slaughter and for alternatives to CO2 stunning of pigs. It rejects amputations without medical need. Transports would be approved only under strict conditions, and the party seeks a nationwide ban on live exports to third countries.

The Greens want to put animal welfare under a single ministry, strengthen official inspections and bring back the right of animal welfare groups to sue. The platform says violations are too often uncovered by private individuals rather than authorities.

The Greens want the state to protect animals better. One ministry should be in charge of animal welfare. Offices should inspect more. Animal welfare groups should again be allowed to go to court.

The state animal welfare commissioner would in future work free from instructions. The platform attributes unpunished violations to understaffed veterinary offices. The abolished right of recognized animal and species protection groups to sue would return and be widened to include declaratory and annulment actions with possible suspensive effect. The state building code would be changed to improve fire safety in barns. Tethering, crate housing and isolated housing are to end quickly.

The Greens want to cut animal testing significantly and end it in the long run. Pets, exotic animals and circus animals are also to be better protected, and animal shelters paid reliably.

The Greens want fewer experiments on animals. If there is another way, animal tests should be banned. Animal shelters should get steady money. Circus animals and pets should also be better protected.

Target agreements, funding and rules are meant to lower the number of animal experiments; research into cruelty-free alternatives would be supported. In breeding, the party wants to end overbreeding and breeding that causes suffering. A dangerous animals law would regulate the keeping of hazardous animals; reptile and exotic animal fairs would face tighter checks and eventually be abolished. For online pet sales, the platform favors nationwide identity checks plus labeling and registration duties. Shelters would receive binding statewide payment for the pets they take in. Circus guidelines would be revised, and the use of animals, especially horses, in carnival and festival parades would be restricted.

The Greens want the state to do more to reuse old industrial and commercial sites. The Grundstücksfonds NRW (state land fund) would be made permanent, and funding for cleaning up contaminated sites would initially double.

The state has many old factory sites that stand empty. The Greens want to use them again. The state should give twice as much money to remove poisons from the soil. Cities should be able to buy such sites.

The platform says decontamination, demolition and transport links are often too costly for private investors and municipalities. Through the permanent land fund, municipalities could buy, develop and reuse sites. After doubling cleanup funding, the party aims for a further substantial increase in the medium term. Nonprofit and public-interest landowners would also be eligible for the money.

The Greens want NRW to become a zero-waste state by 2050 at the latest. Products are to be durable, repairable and recyclable. Companies are to receive funding, and a free organic waste bin is to become standard everywhere.

The Greens want NRW to produce no more waste by 2050. Things should last long and be easy to repair. Companies get help from the state for this. Every household should have a free bin for food and garden waste.

The state administration and state-owned enterprises are to lead the way on the circular economy. The duty to collect organic waste separately is to be enforced so that it is no longer burned with household trash. Under the umbrella brand "Zero.Waste.NRW," the state is to become a model region with recycling companies and research institutes. The party wants to support existing initiatives such as "Circular Valley Wuppertal" and "Greentech.Ruhr." Research on an economy that gets by with limited resources is to be funded.

The Greens want to develop the state's waste management plan into a circular economy plan and revise the state circular economy act. The platform treats waste as tomorrow's raw materials. The state is to prefer resource-saving products in its own purchasing.

The Greens see waste as a raw material. The state should make a new plan for this. A law should change too. The state itself should buy products that need few raw materials. Old toxic substances in the ground should be recorded and removed.

The plan relies on avoiding waste, recovering raw materials and handling disposal within the region. For landfills, protecting people and the environment is to come first, with early planning and public participation. Contaminated sites are to be recorded systematically and removed where possible. If the state buys products that are not resource-light and suitable for reuse, it is to give reasons. Goods and materials are to get digital product passports, with a pilot project planned together with the EU.

The Greens want a new state building code that, for the first time, sets binding quotas for recycled building materials. For state construction contracts, recyclability and the use of recycled materials would become permanent tender criteria. The aim is to make North Rhine-Westphalia a leader in sustainable construction.

The Greens want builders to reuse more old material. The state building law should set fixed rules for this. When the state itself builds, it should look for recycled material. The state should also pay for research on building materials.

The platform calls for quotas for recycled materials such as gravel, sand and hard rock in the state building code. For state contracts, recyclability and the use of recycled concrete, glass or secondary aluminum would become standing tender criteria. The party also wants to invest in materials research and in building up material cycles, for example in the Rhenish mining region.

The Greens want to overhaul the rules for extracting gravel, sand and other rock in North Rhine-Westphalia and gradually reduce demand for new raw materials. They point to conflicts over landscape damage and groundwater and to the dangers they say the flooding in Blessem revealed.

A lot of gravel and sand is dug up in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Greens want to limit this more. Companies should get fewer new areas for digging. Old permits for gravel pits should be checked. The state should steer the planning itself.

In the state development plan, supply periods would be cut from 25 to a maximum of 15 years. Demand would be calculated from the regional needs of the local construction industry rather than past extraction volumes, and rising reuse rates would be factored in. The party wants to review existing permits for gravel pits and the rules for new ones. Planning would be steered at state level, and designated sites could be used for renewable energy until extraction begins. The party backs the demands of the 2019 Niederrheinappell (Lower Rhine appeal).

The Greens want to charge a levy on every ton of rock extracted. It is meant to make companies and end customers share the follow-up costs and to make alternative building materials more attractive. Extraction firms would also have to submit restoration plans to get a permit.

Companies that dig up rock should pay a levy. A levy is money paid to the state. The money should be used to clean up polluted land, for example. Companies should also hand in a plan first. The plan says how they will restore nature afterward.

The levy would apply per ton of rock extracted. Its revenue would go, among other things, to cleaning up contaminated sites and unsealing paved land. Operating permits would in future require restoration plans that bindingly settle lasting effects such as lowered groundwater, cleared forest or remaining quarry lakes, and who pays. The platform argues that, unlike with lignite mining, cleaning up such effects has so far been largely unregulated.