Linke on the environment and animal welfare

The Left supports raw material extraction in Saxony if it is compatible with nature and local communities. Mining law would be changed so that the environment and residents carry more weight than business interests and municipalities get a say and a share of profits.

Raw materials are dug out of the ground in Saxony. The Left supports this, but with stricter rules. Nature and people should count more than company profits. Towns should help decide and get a share of the profit.

Before new deposits are developed, authorities would check whether the material is really needed and whether it could be obtained through recycling. For future projects, municipalities and their residents would have a say and share in the profits. The legal presumption of mining damage would apply more broadly, and the burden of proof would be reversed so that the mining company must show it did not cause the damage. The program points to Saxony's heavy dependence on raw material imports.

The Left wants to expand the recovery of raw materials from waste to reduce import dependence and to benefit the climate and energy efficiency. Public contracts and subsidies would be tied more closely to recycled material, alongside a larger repair bonus and more reusable packaging.

New raw materials can be made from waste. The Left wants to support this more. The state itself should buy more recycled material. People who get things repaired should receive a bigger subsidy. There should be more reusable packaging.

Funding would go to investments in technology for recovering secondary raw materials and to innovations by mid-sized and regional recycling companies and startups. The amount of food waste is to fall, and municipal zero-waste plans modeled on Leipzig would receive support. Schools would offer environmental education everywhere, and resource and energy management would become a required subject.

The Left wants to overhaul livestock farming: state funding for humane housing systems would cover all animal species and types of husbandry. Live animal transport would be restricted, inspections stepped up and decentralized slaughter made possible. Farmers and consumers should not bear the costs alone.

Many animals live in cramped barns. The Left wants to change that. The state should fund good barns for all kinds of animals. Animals should be moved alive less often. There should be more checks. Farmers and shoppers should not pay for this alone.

The platform criticizes cramped conditions, lack of outdoor access and daylight, and amputations without anesthesia in industrial livestock farming. It calls for land-based husbandry, where enough land is available to grow feed and spread manure. As further reasons it cites polluted soil and water and heavy antibiotic use, which it says endangers human health. Instead of breeding for extreme traits and high output, robust multi-purpose breeds should be kept.

The Left wants to reintegrate the state enterprise Sachsenforst into the state administration as a directly run agency. Forests should be converted quickly into near-natural mixed woodland. The party calls for more staff and the agency's own machinery.

Sachsenforst looks after the state's forests. The Left wants to put it back directly under the state administration. There should be more forest workers. The forest should have many kinds of trees. That way it should cope better with heat and drought.

In the party's view, the current structure has led to staff cuts, outsourcing and worse working conditions. The forest conversion is meant to bring tree species suited to the site and of mixed ages plus diverse wildlife, because drought, fires and pests are damaging the woods. For small-scale private forests, forestry cooperatives would be supported. The Left rejects clearing forest for ground-mounted solar installations.

The Left wants to raise the share of wilderness areas in Saxony from 0.7 to 2.0 percent of the state's territory. The environmental administration, environmental groups and conservation associations are to be strengthened. The party points to the poor condition of many protected species and habitats.

Many animal and plant species in Saxony are doing badly. The Left wants more wilderness. There, nature can develop freely. Conservation groups should get more money. Towns and villages should get more green spaces too.

The platform criticizes the lack of measures for most bird protection areas, gaps in the biotope network and the absence of a municipal right of first refusal in forest, water and nature conservation law. The environmental administration would be strengthened, as would the participation and information rights of associations and the public. Conservation groups would get higher, long-term funding. Also planned are flower strips, near-natural grounds at schools, daycare centers and public buildings, and a program to restore municipal land to nature.

The Left wants a state program for sustainable structures in allotment gardening. Allotment gardeners and their associations should not have to pay municipal charges and contributions. The party points to the gardens' social, ecological and urban planning value.

Saxony has many allotment garden clubs. The Left wants a state program to support them. The clubs should pay no charges to the town. In rural areas many gardens stand empty. There should be money for that too.

A development plan would be drawn up together with the state association of allotment gardeners and the association of towns and municipalities. A funding program would help remove surplus gardens, for instance with money from Integrated Rural Development or through compensation measures for sealed land. Allotment sites would have to be included in municipal land-use planning. Sites and their garden sheds would be taxed uniformly under Grundsteuer A (the property tax category for agricultural and forestry land).

The Left wants to give priority to the population's drinking water supply, especially with large industrial projects and in crises. Wastewater disposal should stay public and become more decentralized. Sewage plants would get a fourth treatment stage, with industry sharing the costs.

Everyone needs clean drinking water. The Left says this matters more than water for big factories. Towns should keep handling wastewater, not private firms. Sewage plants should clean the water better. Industry should help pay for that.

Funding would go to new water systems that use service water and reuse separated wastewater streams, and to cooperation between water utilities and urban or regional planning. The platform criticizes oversized central wastewater plants with high fixed costs for few users and wants to fund decentralized approaches. It rejects privatizing the task or having private companies operate it. The fourth treatment stage is meant to filter out micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and pesticides; according to the platform, fewer than 7 percent of rivers and streams were in good ecological condition in 2021.

The Left wants considerably more state money for animal welfare and a funding guarantee for animal shelters. In its view, volunteer associations carry out public duties without enough support. Emergency veterinary care is also to be improved.

The Left wants to spend more money on animal welfare. Animal shelters should be sure to get funding. The state should repay towns the costs for stray animals. There should be more vets. There should be an emergency phone number for vets.

The platform points to experts who consider one euro per resident appropriate, about four million euros a year in Saxony; it says just over one million is budgeted. Funding would cover investments, operations and staff of the facilities. The state would fully reimburse municipalities for the costs of found and impounded animals. A central intake center for reptiles and exotic animals and more wildlife rescue points are planned. For emergency care, the party wants more places to study veterinary medicine, a scholarship for rural vets, more money for Leipzig's small animal clinic and a central emergency number.

The Left wants to ban wild animals in circuses and fur production and to cut animal testing considerably. Animal welfare organizations would get the right to sue on behalf of animals. The list of restricted dog breeds would be dropped, and municipalities could order mandatory neutering of cats.

The Left wants to ban wild animals in circuses. Fur should no longer be produced. There should be far fewer animal tests. Animal welfare groups should be allowed to sue in court. The list of dangerous dog breeds should go.

Tests involving severe and lasting suffering, and those that are medically unnecessary or replaceable, would be banned; the state would fund alternative methods more strongly. Instead of the breed list, a certificate of competence would be required once a dog has shown problem behavior. A cat protection law would let affected municipalities require registration and neutering of free-roaming pet cats, with costs reimbursed by the state via the municipalities. The party welcomes the new office of a state animal welfare commissioner and wants official recognition for animal welfare organizations.