Grüne on the environment and animal welfare

The Greens want Saxony-Anhalt to implement the EU Nature Restoration Regulation quickly so that damaged ecosystems return to a near-natural state. They also want to safeguard the right of recognized environmental organizations to bring lawsuits.

The Greens want to repair damaged nature quickly. There is an EU rule for this. The state should put this rule into practice soon. Environmental groups should still be allowed to go to court.

The program justifies this with dying forests, drying peatlands and the decline of species. Farming and forestry are to be involved in the restoration work, which the program calls necessary. The party also sees nature conservation as a way to strengthen the region, because intact ecosystems support local development, tourism and income. The right of associations to sue lets recognized environmental groups challenge decisions by public authorities in court.

The Greens want long-term, sufficient funding for the national natural monument “Grünes Band Sachsen-Anhalt” (Green Belt). A visitor center is to be built, and the area is to combine nature conservation, remembrance and low-impact tourism.

The Green Belt lies along the former border through Germany. Today it is a protected area for nature. The Greens want to give it enough money for the long term. A center for visitors should be built.

The Green Belt is the part of the former inner-German border strip that lies in Saxony-Anhalt and is preserved as a nature reserve. The party wants to secure its funding permanently. Construction of a visitor center is to be moved forward. Further development is meant to bring together nature protection, remembrance of the division of Germany and nature-friendly tourism.

The Greens want at least one landscape management farm for biotope development in every county. This is meant to improve how conservation measures are organized and carried out locally.

The Greens want a landscape care farm in every county. This farm looks after habitats for animals and plants. That way, nature protection should work better locally. Farmers, towns and conservationists should work together there.

The farms are to maintain and develop habitats. According to the program, they also strengthen the regional economy. They are meant to encourage cooperation among farms, municipalities and conservation groups.

The Greens want to designate more protected areas in order to link habitats into a connected biotope network. They also plan a peatland protection program and a funding program for floodplains.

The Greens want more protected areas. These areas should be connected to each other. That helps animals and plants survive. Peatlands and river floodplains should also get more protection.

Linking habitats is meant to secure genetic exchange between animal and plant populations. The program puts a focus on former mining landscapes of importance beyond the region. The peatland program and floodplain funding are to preserve and restore habitats. The program names greater biodiversity and better water storage as the benefits.

The Greens want to set up a nature conservation academy to train and upskill specialists. They also want to strengthen volunteering in environmental protection, conservation associations and environmental education centers across the state.

The Greens want to found an academy for nature conservation. Specialists for nature protection learn there. Volunteers and conservation groups should get more support. Places for environmental education should get enough money.

The academy is to teach up-to-date knowledge on conservation, biodiversity and landscape management and thereby make protective measures more effective. Degree programs in ecology, conservation and species knowledge are to be supported and expanded to counter the shortage of specialists. For volunteers, the party plans targeted support and fewer bureaucratic hurdles. Environmental education centers are to be secured statewide and adequately funded in order to engage all age groups in nature and climate protection.

The Greens want to continue funding for small projects in nature conservation and environmental education. The state is also to reliably provide its share of conservation programs paid for by the EU and the federal government so that funds are not lost.

The Greens want to keep funding small projects for nature. The money should come quickly and easily. The EU and the federal government pay for some conservation programs. The state should reliably pay its share.

The small-project funding covers nature conservation, environmental education and education for sustainable development. According to the program, it allows fast, low-bureaucracy help for regional projects and raises awareness of environmental issues. Secured co-financing is meant to ensure that programs paid for by the EU and the federal government can be carried out in full.

The Greens want a statewide soil protection plan to preserve soil as a finite resource and to keep the fertile black earth soils in particular from being sealed. A new land law is meant to secure sustainable use of farmland.

Good soil is important for food. The Greens want to protect it with a plan for the whole state. Fewer large facilities should be built on valuable farmland. There should be fewer harmful substances in the soil.

The program argues that soil provides food, stores water, filters pollutants and binds carbon. In agriculturally valuable regions, large-scale sealing and industrial facilities are to be limited so that no farmland is lost. Alongside the new land law, the party wants transparent ownership structures in farming. Pollutant inputs are to fall and contaminated sites are to be cleaned up faster in order to protect the environment, water and health.

The Greens want to better protect people, animals, and plants from noise and artificial light at night. Noise protection is to be expanded and nighttime lighting limited to what is needed.

The Greens want less noise. They also want less light at night. Too much light disturbs insects and birds. Less light also saves energy.

The plan includes noise barriers or planted barriers in affected areas and noise action plans that identify and reduce harmful exposure. Municipalities would get funding for so-called darkness strategies, and the state would join campaigns such as "Earth Night." Light pollution would be added to the state nature conservation law. The dark-sky parks in the Altmark and the Wendland would be recognized as a cross-state light protection area, which the program says would also help astronomy tourism.

The Greens want large water users to pay more for extracting water. Given increasing droughts, this is meant to create an incentive to save.

Some businesses use a lot of water. They should pay more for it. This should make them save water. Farmers and fish farmers would get a discount.

The fees would rise to the level common in other German states. Agriculture and fisheries would receive an appropriate discount. The program cites the strain that longer dry periods put on the water supply.

The Greens want stronger protection of rivers, lakes, and groundwater from pollutants. Sewage plants would clean more thoroughly, land in water protection areas would be farmed only organically, and pollutant discharges banned in the long term.

The Greens want clean water. Sewage plants should filter out more pollutants. In water protection areas, farmers could only farm organically. Later, no one should be allowed to put pollutants into the water.

Sewage plants would quickly get a fourth treatment stage that removes persistent substances such as drug residues or cosmetics. Inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, and soil material into river basins would be reduced. Discharges would be checked more strictly and violations penalized. In addition, groundwater recharge would be supported, drinking water monitored regularly, and a water management strategy developed.

The Greens want to return rivers and floodplains to a more natural state and reject any expansion of the Elbe. This is meant to create habitats, secure biodiversity, and dampen floods.

The Greens want to make rivers more natural again. Rivers should get more room. The Elbe should not be expanded. There should be no new dams on it.

Floodplains would be restored and old river arms reconnected. More funding would go to restoring lakes, peatlands, and streams, and piped streams would be opened up again, including in cities. On the Elbe, the riverbed would be stabilized because it has been eroding for over 100 years and the water level is dropping. Groynes and rock fill would be removed; the party rejects new barrages.

The Greens want to convert forests into species-rich, climate-adapted mixed forests. In state-owned forest, ecological rules stricter than the legal minimum would apply.

The Greens want healthy forests. Many different trees should grow there. This helps forests cope with heat and drought. There should be no more clear-cutting in state-owned forest.

State agencies would work closely with landowners and conservation groups on forest conversion; natural regeneration takes priority. Services such as carbon storage and drinking water protection would be compensated. The sponge forest concept would keep water in the forest, for example by removing drainage ditches. Deadwood would not be cleared as a first resort; better water balance and open firebreak strips are meant to help against wildfires. The state forestry districts would gradually shrink, wildlife management would protect young trees, and owners of small private forests would be encouraged to join forestry cooperatives.

The Greens want to strengthen the protection of farm animals through new rules and more effective inspections. This includes cameras in slaughterhouses, a ban on tail docking in pigs and keeping antibiotic use to a minimum.

The Greens want to protect farm animals better. Slaughterhouses should have to use cameras. Cutting pigs' tails should no longer be allowed. Animals should only get antibiotics when it is really needed.

Veterinary offices are to focus their checks more on visible signs of pain, and farm veterinarians are to be required to walk through the herds regularly. Video surveillance is to become mandatory in slaughterhouses; smaller ones are to get advice, and gentler stunning methods are to be researched. For pigs, the program provides for a ban on tail docking and a requirement to feed roughage; breeding should put health ahead of output, and dual-purpose breeds of cattle and chickens are to be supported. Only veterinarians should be allowed to dispense antibiotics. The program also calls for more on-farm or on-pasture killing by gunshot instead of transport, and strict standards for animal transport.

The Greens want an immediate end to invasive animal experiments under the state's responsibility unless they are strictly necessary for basic biomedical research or applied medical research. Research without animal testing is to be funded instead.

The Greens want to stop many animal experiments right away. Only tests that medical research truly needs would stay allowed. Research without animals should get more money.

A dedicated state funding program is to speed up the development of methods that do not use animals. Research institutions that continue invasive animal experiments which are not strictly necessary would no longer receive state money. The party wants this to create incentives for a lasting shift toward science without animal testing.

The Greens want new rules for keeping animals privately, including a mandatory dog owner's license, cat protection ordinances and a positive list of permitted species. Animal shelters are to be reliably funded through a state animal welfare fund.

The Greens want new rules for pets. Dog owners should have to get a dog license. A list should say which animals people may keep at home. Animal shelters should get steady money from the state.

The dog license is to follow the model of Lower Saxony, and the illegal puppy trade is to be curbed by checking origin, health and registration. Counties and municipalities are to be able to issue cat protection ordinances, for example requiring outdoor cats to be neutered; the state law is to be changed for this. Dangerous wild animals could only be kept privately with proof of competence, and a nationwide register of bans on keeping or caring for animals is to be created. The party wants stronger veterinary offices to enforce the ban on harmful breeding ("Qualzucht"), to exclude animals with such traits from shows and to ban bite and attack training in private dog sports. Against animal hoarding it relies on advice and information.

The Greens want longer closed seasons and shorter hunting seasons so that wild animals have more time to reproduce and recover. Hunting and training methods that the party sees as violating animal welfare are to be banned.

The Greens want less hunting. Wild animals should have more quiet time each year. Some hunting methods should be banned, such as traps in the forest. Hunters should no longer be allowed to shoot dogs and cats.

Traps in forests, artificial dens used for training ("Schliefanlagen") and training hunting dogs on live animals are to be banned. Schliefanlagen are man-made burrows where dogs are trained for fox hunting. The party aims for hunting-free zones, especially in nature reserves and wildlife protection areas. It also calls for a ban on shooting dogs and cats.

The Greens want to avoid waste and keep raw materials in circulation longer. They call for a zero-waste guiding strategy for the state, a repair bonus, municipal packaging taxes and a revised waste law.

The Greens want less trash. People who get a broken device repaired should get some money back. Towns should be allowed to tax throwaway packaging. The state should not build new landfills for construction waste.

The strategy would be drawn up together with industry, municipalities, waste management associations and environmental groups. A change to the waste law would set binding rules and make it easier to recover recyclable materials from waste. The repair bonus would follow the model used in Thuringia and subsidize repairs of broken devices. Repair shops, repair cafés and second-hand stores would get support, along with information campaigns. Municipalities would be allowed to tax single-use packaging and cutlery in takeout sales. The platform rejects new landfills for contaminated mineral waste such as construction debris.

The Greens want to end waste shipments across regions and process more waste locally. They also want to find new uses for waste and recover phosphorus.

The Greens want to stop moving trash over long distances. Trash should be processed in the region. Phosphorus should be recovered from waste and wastewater. Phosphorus is an important raw material.

The platform justifies the stop with the CO₂ emissions caused by the shipments. Regional processing methods are to be expanded. New uses for waste are to be explored, such as construction rubble as heat storage, so that less ends up in landfills over time. Processes that recover phosphorus from waste and wastewater are to be supported in order to reduce dependence on imports.

The Greens want to make it easier to build with timber and other renewable materials and to subsidize this. Materials already in buildings should be reused as far as possible, through recycled building materials, exchanges for used components and gypsum recycling.

The Greens want more buildings made of wood, clay, straw and hemp. Old building materials should be used again. There should be exchanges for used building parts. Gypsum waste should no longer go to landfills.

Multi-story timber buildings are to be made easier by implementing the timber construction guideline; funding programs are planned for clay, straw and hemp. Recycled building materials and "urban mining," meaning the reuse of materials already built in, are to be used more widely. In public tenders, digital tools such as Building Information Modeling are meant to save resources and ease the load on building authorities. At the federal level, the Greens call for a landfill ban on gypsum waste modeled on Austria. Trades, planners and municipalities would get incentives to cooperate.

The Greens want to reduce daily land consumption significantly by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. From then on, new sealing of land would only be possible if land is unsealed elsewhere at the same time.

The Greens want less land to be built over. By 2030 it should be much less. From 2050, anyone who builds over land must free up land somewhere else. Cities should become denser and greener at the same time.

The federal 30-hectare target is to be met and enforced more strongly with municipalities. The platform makes "dual inner development" a planning principle: denser building is tied to protecting and upgrading urban green spaces. For climate adaptation, the Greens rely on the sponge-city principle and subsidize green roofs, green facades and green tracks.