SPD on the environment and animal welfare

The SPD wants to promote the circular economy in order to conserve raw materials and reduce waste. Products and building materials are to become easier to recycle.

The SPD wants less waste. Materials should be reused more often. Products should be made so they are easy to recycle. There should be the same rules for this across Germany.

In product design and in the use of raw materials, for instance in construction, resource efficiency and recyclability are to improve. The SPD wants recycled materials to no longer count legally as waste. At the federal level, the law on recyclable materials is to be revised. In the state, projects for a comprehensive circular economy are to receive funding.

The SPD wants to protect bogs as natural CO2 stores and found a conservation foundation that buys and rewets bog land. New sealing of soil is to end by 2050.

Bogs store a lot of CO2. The SPD wants to make dry bogs wet again. A new foundation should buy bog land for this. Also, less ground should be built over.

By 2030, new sealing of land is to fall below three hectares a day and reach net zero by 2050. Climate-friendly land management such as carbon farming and agroforestry is to be funded. Farmers and rural areas are to be involved from the start and get planning certainty; adapted farming and CO2 storage are to be compensated. A competence center for bog protection is planned to develop bog-friendly forms of use. Voluntary carbon certificates may help with financing.

The SPD wants to secure the water supply for the long term under climate change and expand protection against floods and storm surges. It plans a master plan for managing water volumes and stronger dikes.

Climate change brings more drought and more floods. The SPD wants a plan for the water in the state. The dikes should get better. Rivers should get more room.

The master plan is to bring together water supply, retention and storage. Together with land users, a concept is to be drawn up that steers irrigation and drainage with digital systems and uses the soil as a store. Coastal and inland dikes are to be developed further, and the coastal protection master plan is to be updated. A sediment management system is to secure enough clay as building material for dikes. For heavy-rain precautions, municipalities are to get a financing tool through a change to the state water law.

The SPD wants to reforest woodlands damaged by drought and pests in a way that suits the changing climate. In the state forests, ecology is to take priority over economic goals.

Many forests are sick from drought and pests. The SPD wants to plant new trees that fit the climate. In the state's forests, nature should matter more than profit.

The current reforestation and adaptation program is to continue. Through the climate adaptation strategy, money is to go to expert forestry advice geared to the changed climate. The program justifies this with the forest's roles as a CO2 store, source of raw materials, habitat and place for recreation.

The SPD wants to improve animal welfare and animal health in all forms of husbandry. It backs the proposals of the Borchert Commission, an expert panel on restructuring livestock farming, and wants to push at the federal level for their funding.

Farm animals should have better lives. Experts have made proposals for this. The SPD wants to carry out these proposals. Animals in circuses and on transports should also be better protected.

Livestock farmers are to get planning certainty; together with the federal government, planning and permit rules are to make the switch to better forms of husbandry easier. Measures against animal epidemics are to be introduced and funded. The SPD wants better animal welfare on transports and in circuses. Online trade in animals and exotic species is to be stopped. Volunteer work in animal shelters gets support.

The SPD wants to keep conflicts between pasture farming, people and wolves low as the wolf population grows. The states are to be able to manage wolf numbers differently by region, in line with EU law.

More and more wolves live in Lower Saxony. This causes conflict, for example over sheep on pastures. The SPD wants the states to be allowed to manage wolf numbers by region. Wolves should be counted more exactly.

A permanent dialogue on pasture farming and wolves is planned with all organizations and associations involved. Monitoring standards are to be revised so that the number of wolves in Germany is recorded realistically. Population management is to comply with European law.

The SPD wants to secure the quality of groundwater and surface water by implementing the EU Water Framework Directive. Pollution is to be prevented at the source where possible, and wastewater treatment is to be upgraded.

The SPD wants clean water in rivers, lakes and the ground. It wants to follow the EU rules for water. Harmful substances should not get into the water at all. Sewage plants should become more modern.

The program relies on prevention and cooperation with those who farm the land, so that nutrients and pesticides do not reach soil and water. Together with municipalities, a concept is to be drawn up showing where a fourth treatment stage in sewage plants makes sense. Pilot projects that remove microplastics from wastewater are to be funded. Reusing treated wastewater, for example to irrigate fields, is also to be tested.