SPD on the environment and animal welfare

The SPD wants to expand the state's biodiversity strategy, rewet peatlands, make forests climate-resilient and increase forest area. It says it relies on participation, compensation and investment rather than bans.

The SPD wants to protect animals and plants better. Peatlands should become wet again. The forest should grow and cope better with heat. People who care for nature should be paid for it. The SPD does not want bans here.

Programs are to support flowering areas, near-natural forests, peatlands and waters; those who maintain land and protect species are to be paid for it. Compensation measures for interventions in nature are to be implemented and monitored better, and land consumption is to fall. Investments are planned in sponge cities, green corridors, urban forests and restoration, along with incentives for a circular economy. Forests are to be converted mainly through natural regeneration with native or European tree species, and red and roe deer populations are to be reduced for this purpose. The forestry administration and ForstBW are to get more staff and funding.

The SPD wants active inspections of animal transports and animal husbandry and a registration requirement for dogs and cats. Animal shelters are to get help housing stray animals through a funding program.

The SPD wants to protect animals better. Authorities should check animal transports and barns more often. Owners should have to register dogs and cats. Animal shelters should get more money.

As prevention, farms are to receive advice and support. The platform wants to act against the illegal puppy trade and keep an eye on statewide implementation of the cat protection ordinance. A funding program called Zukunft Tierschutz ("Future of Animal Welfare") is meant to relieve animal welfare groups and shelters, which the platform says suffer from lack of space and high costs.

The SPD wants to enshrine in law that drinking water supply takes priority over industry and irrigation. Water is to remain a public good and the infrastructure is to be made crisis-proof.

The SPD wants drinking water to always come first. This also applies when factories or fields need water. This should be written into law. Water should belong to everyone.

For this, the state water act is to be reformed; at the federal level the SPD wants to push for changes to the Federal Water Act. Clear rules are to be set for reusing gray water, for storage and for infiltration. Decisions about water infrastructure are to be made democratically and transparently.