Linke on the environment and animal welfare

The Left wants to strengthen humane livestock farming and fund a socially fair shift toward better animal welfare. Sow crates and fully slatted floors are to be phased out, and decentralized slaughter sites are to replace large slaughterhouses.

Animals should be kept better. Narrow crates for pigs should go step by step. Farmers get money for better barns. There should be small slaughterhouses in the region.

The party backs land-based livestock farming, where the number of animals depends on what nature can bear. Barn construction that meets higher animal welfare standards is to receive special funding. Regional and municipal slaughterhouses are meant to avoid long transport routes and what the platform describes as poor working conditions in large private plants. Farm policy is to follow the recommendations of the Borchert Commission and the Commission on the Future of Agriculture; pond fish farming is also to be preserved.

The Left wants to make Thuringia's forests more resistant to drought, storms and pests through near-natural conversion to mixed forest. 500 million euros are to be available for this by 2030, and the state forestry agency is to get more staff and money.

The forest in Thuringia suffers from heat and pests. The Left wants to change it. There should be more mixed forest with leafy trees. The state gives 500 million euros for this by 2030. Public forest should not be sold.

Natural regeneration takes priority; planting and sowing are to happen only where a species-rich stand does not develop that way. A state program for reforestation and forest conversion is also to benefit private and municipal forest owners, with public money remaining tied to the goal of climate-stable mixed forests. Heavy machinery is to be used only as far as necessary and in a way that protects the soil. The party wants to prevent sales of public forest to shore up budgets; small private forest owners are to get more support, and the use of forest roads is to be newly regulated.

The Left rejects a final repository for nuclear waste in Thuringia. Its reason is that the state already carries an above-average burden of radioactive waste left over from uranium mining.

Germany is looking for a place for nuclear waste. The Left does not want this place to be in Thuringia. Uranium used to be mined in Thuringia. There is already a lot of radioactive waste from that.

The Left wants to keep taking part in the debate about the repository search and argue its opposition there. In its view, Thuringia should not be shortlisted because of what uranium mining left behind. The party also wants to develop the state's sustainability strategy further and write sustainability as a principle into the state constitution.

The Left wants to keep animal shelters and animal welfare groups well funded and supports a right for animal welfare associations to sue. It backs mandatory tagging and registration of cats, wants to replace animal testing with other methods, and aims to end cruel breeding of dogs at the federal level.

The Left wants to help animals more. Animal shelters should get enough money. Cats should get a tag so owners can be found. There should be fewer tests on animals. Animal welfare groups should be allowed to go to court.

The program regards housing stray animals as a mandatory task of municipalities that should not fall on volunteer animal welfare workers. The tagging and registration requirement that applies to dogs is to be enforced consistently, as is the cat protection ordinance for privately owned outdoor cats. On animal testing, the party calls for a rethink and wants to develop more testing-free methods. At the federal level it wants to end breeding that causes dogs suffering and to fight the illegal puppy trade more firmly. Fisheries and angling clubs are to get help maintaining dams.

The Left wants to reduce land consumption more effectively in order to protect soils. The guiding principle is that, on balance, no additional land is sealed. Anyone who intervenes in nature and landscape should primarily compensate in kind rather than pay money.

More and more ground is being built over. The Left wants to stop that. In the end, no more ground should be covered than before. Anyone who builds should free up ground elsewhere. Just paying money should not be enough.

For unavoidable interventions, real compensation measures such as unsealing land are to take priority over compensation payments. The program names net-zero land sealing as the benchmark. The party argues that soil must be preserved for future generations and for natural climate protection.

The Left wants waste prevention to come first in waste management and wants recyclable materials returned to the cycle wherever possible. The repair bonus is to become permanent and rise to 300 euros per person per year.

The Left wants less trash to be created. Useful materials in trash should be used again. People who get things repaired receive some money. This repair bonus should stay. It should go up to 300 euros a year.

For the party, protecting resources is at the center of a greener waste management system. Measures that make recyclable materials usable again as far as possible are to be funded. The public sector is to act as a role model in the circular economy. The repair bonus is to be secured for the long term and raised to 300 euros per Thuringian resident per year.

The Left wants the federal government to share the cost of cleaning up major contaminated sites in Thuringia. Industrial and mining companies are to be required to set aside money for aftercare so that no new legacy pollution arises.

Old factories and mines have polluted the ground. Cleaning up is very expensive. The Left wants the federal government to help pay. In the future, companies should have to save money for later damage.

The program names the major projects in potash mining by K+S Kali GmbH and the former tar processing plant in Rositz. The party wants to keep pressing the federal government for a financial contribution and to demand solutions that do not burden Thuringia one-sidedly. A duty to build reserves is to apply to companies in industry and mining. The program also backs a biosphere reserve in the Südharz region that promotes recycled gypsum and avoids opening new quarrying areas for natural gypsum.

The Left wants to prepare Thuringia better for heavy rain, floods and drought. This includes sponge city concepts, implementing the low-water strategy, well-equipped counties and disaster relief depots, and a nationwide relief fund plus insurance for damage.

Heavy rain and dry spells are happening more often. The Left wants to prepare the state for this. Towns should store rainwater better. Helpers should have good equipment. After damage, a relief fund should give money quickly.

Counties are to remain autonomous in flood protection and receive support, and the party wants to keep investing in decentralized disaster relief depots. Volunteers in disaster relief are to receive state contributions to the statutory pension. Waters are to be maintained and soil unsealed so that more water can be absorbed. From the low-water strategy, the program names reforestation near drinking water reservoirs, decentralized cisterns and the use of old small agricultural reservoirs. At the federal level, the party wants a uniform relief fund and insurance for damage from extreme weather.

The Left wants to secure Thuringia's water supply and connect more households to central sewage treatment plants. Funding for wastewater disposal is to rise substantially so that costs do not fall on private households alone and fees stay affordable.

The Left wants to secure clean drinking water for everyone. More homes should be connected to sewage plants. This matters most in villages. The state should give more money for this. Fees should stay affordable.

According to the program, well over 80 percent of households are connected to central sewage treatment plants. The wastewater pact between the environment ministry and the association of municipalities is to be adapted and better funded. In municipalities with fewer than 200 residents, the party wants to support shared or municipal plants with advice and grants so that not everyone has to build their own small treatment plant. The state water protection program for 2022 to 2027 is to be continued. The Thuringian long-distance water utility is to tap revenue from hydro, wind and solar power, and reuse concepts are to be developed for drinking water reservoirs no longer needed.