What do the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia say on the environment and animal welfare?

The AfD wants to remove the legal exemptions for ritual slaughter without stunning on religious grounds. Live animal transports and animal testing should be reduced, while modern barns should be approved faster.

In ritual slaughter, animals are killed without being stunned. The AfD wants to ban this with no exceptions. Fewer live animals should be transported. There should also be less animal testing.

The AfD wants to provide more money for dealing with forest damage and for reforestation. It opposes wind turbines on forest land to protect wildlife, and it demands a cap on the wolf population.

Many forests in the state are damaged. The AfD wants to give more money for new trees. There should be no wind turbines in forests. The number of wolves should be limited.

The CDU wants to use new funding programs to bring more greenery into cities and make forests more resilient to climate change. It plans a 50-million-euro tree voucher program, environmental vouchers for local projects, and a tree premium for forest owners.

The CDU wants to plant more trees in cities and villages. There should be over one million new trees. Clubs should get 2,000 euros for environmental projects. Forest owners should get a bonus payment. Forests should cope better with the changing climate.

The CDU wants to make active wolf management possible in Germany and adjust the wolf's protection status to reflect how widespread the animal actually is. It justifies this with the fast-growing wolf population and the aim of securing the future of grazing livestock.

There are more and more wolves. The CDU wants to be allowed to actively control wolf numbers. The wolf should be less strictly protected. This is how the CDU wants to protect sheep and other animals on pastures.

The CDU wants to regulate raw material extraction through a comprehensive strategy that combines environmental and land protection with planning certainty for industry. Recycling and the use of secondary raw materials are to receive more support.

The CDU wants better rules for digging up raw materials. Raw materials include sand and gravel. Less land should be used up. Companies should still be able to plan ahead. The CDU also wants to support more recycling.

The CDU wants to further strengthen hunters' own responsibility and cut bureaucracy. Hunting licenses are to be issued in a uniform and simpler way across the state. The platform describes hunting and fishing as contributions to native biodiversity.

The CDU wants to give hunters more responsibility of their own. There should be less paperwork. Getting a hunting license should be easier. It should also work online. The CDU also wants to support fishing.

The CDU wants to further reduce land consumption. Ecological compensation for construction projects should, where possible, not lead to the loss of valuable farmland. Instead, unsealing built-up land, compensation payments and eco-accounts are to take priority.

Less land should be built over. Anyone who builds must give something back to nature. But good farmland should not be lost for that. The CDU prefers to remove concrete from land. Payments of money should also count as compensation.

The FDP wants to promote a circular economy that goes beyond today's recycling and plans for reuse already at the product design stage. It justifies this with rising material prices as well as climate protection and security of raw material supply.

The FDP wants companies to use materials more than once. Reuse should be planned when a product is designed. This protects the climate. It also makes raw materials safer and more affordable.

The FDP wants to review technical flood protection and create more areas where water can spread out. Warning systems should also work during power outages.

Heavy rain can cause floods. The FDP wants more land where water has room. Warning people should work even without electricity. The federal government and the states should cooperate better in emergencies.

The FDP wants to introduce certificate trading through which municipalities trade rights to designate building land. Compensation measures for land use are to be better coordinated, and brownfield sites made usable again.

Land is scarce. The FDP wants certificates for new building land. Cities and towns can trade them with each other. Old industrial sites should be used again.

The FDP wants to improve air quality through new drive systems, more greenery and smart traffic systems. Limit values are to be reviewed scientifically on a regular basis, and measuring stations are to deliver reliable readings.

The air should get cleaner. The FDP relies on new kinds of engines for vehicles. More greenery should help too. Experts should check the pollution limits regularly.

The FDP wants more reforestation, protection of existing forests and rewetting of peatlands. Such natural carbon sinks are to be included in emissions trading so that preserving them pays off.

Forests and peatlands store CO2. The FDP wants to plant more trees and protect forests. Dried-out peatlands should become wet again. Those who create such stores should gain from emissions trading.

The FDP wants to improve existing nature reserves before designating new ones. It rejects national parks created against the wishes of local residents, in particular one in the Senne region. There it favors a shared land-use plan instead.

The FDP wants to improve nature reserves that already exist. This should come before creating new ones. The FDP does not want a national park in the Senne region. Instead, everyone involved should agree on a shared plan.

The FDP wants to support forest owners and the forestry sector with reforestation and pest control so that forests recover from drought, storms and bark beetles. Agriculture and forestry are to be included in the EU emissions trading system. Citizens should be able to take part, for example through community forests.

Many forests were damaged by drought, storms and beetles. The FDP wants to help forest owners. New trees should be planted. Forests should become part of emissions trading. That is a market for permits to emit greenhouse gases.

The FDP wants to prepare large cities for summer heat by expanding water features and green spaces. This includes storing water under the sponge-city approach as well as green roofs and facades. Municipalities are to receive support for this.

Big cities get very hot in summer. The FDP wants more water and more green space in cities. Cities should store rainwater. Roofs and walls should get plants too. The state should help cities do this.

The FDP wants to strengthen the circular economy and favors recycling over product bans. Plastics recycling is to be expanded, including through chemical processes. Collection containers for small electrical devices and metals are to be set up statewide.

The FDP wants waste to become new raw materials. It does not want to ban products. Instead, more should be recycled. There should be containers for recyclables all over the state. People can drop off small electrical devices and metal there.

The Greens want to implement the demands of the Volksinitiative Artenvielfalt (citizens' initiative on biodiversity), signed by 115,000 people. The state's biodiversity strategy is to be updated and backed by a state program with concrete measures. The program justifies this with the ongoing loss of species and habitats.

Many animal and plant species are in danger. In the state, 115,000 people signed a petition for more species protection. The Greens want to carry out these demands. A new state program is meant to do this.

The Greens want to limit the sealing of new land and write the target back into the state development plan. Daily land use is to fall first to 5 hectares and to net zero by 2035. The plan includes a levy on soil sealing and a program to unseal land.

Every day, more than 8 hectares of land in the state are newly built on. The Greens want to limit this to 5 hectares first. By 2035, no additional land should be used up on balance. Anyone who seals soil should pay a levy.

The Greens want to build a statewide habitat network and make the Senne the state's second national park. Pesticides and mineral fertilizer are to be banned in protected areas. The aim is to reconnect fragmented habitats and give endangered species more refuge.

Roads and towns cut animal habitats apart. The Greens want to connect these habitats across the state. The Senne area should become a national park. Pesticides should be banned in protected areas. Pesticides are poisons against pests and weeds.

The Greens want to protect biodiversity in cities too, by making better use of existing building land and preserving green spaces. Gravel gardens are to be ruled out through the state building code, and pesticides are no longer to be used outside agriculture. Rules against light pollution are also planned in state law.

Animals and plants should have room in cities too. The Greens do not want to build on green spaces. Gravel gardens should no longer be allowed. Gardens and parks should be free of pesticides. At night, fewer lights should be on where they are not needed.

The Greens want to give wolves habitat in North Rhine-Westphalia while securing livestock grazing. The state is to manage the wolf population so that sheep farms and other livestock keepers can stay in business.

Wolves live in the state again. The Greens want them to have room here. Sheep and other grazing animals should still be safe. The state should help farmers protect their animals.

The Greens want to give environmental authorities more money and staff so that environmental laws are actually enforced. The former task force on environmental crime is to return, and a specialized public prosecutor's office is to investigate statewide.

The Greens want environmental laws to be followed better. Environmental offices should get more money and more staff. A special prosecutor's office should pursue crimes against the environment. People should be able to report problems to an independent office.

The Greens want to bring state-owned natural areas together in an independent foundation and thereby protect them from privatization. By buying and exchanging land, a permanently protected habitat network open to everyone is to be created.

The state owns many natural areas. The Greens want to put them into a foundation. That way no one can sell them to private owners. The foundation should buy more land. Everyone should be able to visit nature there.

The Greens want to steer forestry in the state toward near-natural, species-rich permanent forests, on public and private land alike. The forestry act is to be expanded into a state forest act. The program cites forests' role as carbon sinks and water stores and the strain the climate crisis puts on them.

Forests store carbon and water. The Greens want to protect forests better. Forests should have many different kinds of trees. A new forest law should set the rules. Forest owners should get money and advice for this.

The Greens want to reduce nitrate, pesticides, drug residues and microplastics entering water bodies. Manufacturers are to share the costs of water treatment through a polluter fund and a reformed wastewater levy. The party rejects natural gas extraction and fracking, also for reasons of drinking water protection.

The Greens want clean drinking water. Harmful substances should not get into the water. Those who pollute water should help pay for cleaning it. The Greens reject fracking. Public squares should offer free drinking water.

The Greens want to revise the state water act and again give drinking water protection priority over the interests of the limestone, cement and gravel industries. Extraction of raw materials in water protection areas is to be banned once more. Rivers and streams are to become more natural, also as a precaution against flooding.

The Greens want to change the state's water law. No one should be allowed to dig gravel or limestone in water protection areas. Rivers and streams should flow more naturally again. They should get more room. This should also protect against floods.

The Greens want to enforce air pollution limits consistently and expand the monitoring network in North Rhine-Westphalia. The platform argues that exceeding limits endangers health and should be fixed before lawsuits arise.

The Greens want cleaner air. Pollution limits should apply everywhere. There should be more measuring stations. Air should also be measured at airports and in residential areas.

The Greens want to cap animal transports to and from North Rhine-Westphalia at four hours and end live transports to non-EU countries. In slaughterhouses, stricter checks and changed work practices are meant to improve animal welfare.

The Greens want to protect animals better. Animal transports should last 4 hours at most. Transports to countries outside the EU should stop. Slaughterhouses should get more checks and cameras.

The Greens want to put animal welfare under a single ministry, strengthen official inspections and bring back the right of animal welfare groups to sue. The platform says violations are too often uncovered by private individuals rather than authorities.

The Greens want the state to protect animals better. One ministry should be in charge of animal welfare. Offices should inspect more. Animal welfare groups should again be allowed to go to court.

The Greens want to cut animal testing significantly and end it in the long run. Pets, exotic animals and circus animals are also to be better protected, and animal shelters paid reliably.

The Greens want fewer experiments on animals. If there is another way, animal tests should be banned. Animal shelters should get steady money. Circus animals and pets should also be better protected.

The Greens want the state to do more to reuse old industrial and commercial sites. The Grundstücksfonds NRW (state land fund) would be made permanent, and funding for cleaning up contaminated sites would initially double.

The state has many old factory sites that stand empty. The Greens want to use them again. The state should give twice as much money to remove poisons from the soil. Cities should be able to buy such sites.

The Greens want NRW to become a zero-waste state by 2050 at the latest. Products are to be durable, repairable and recyclable. Companies are to receive funding, and a free organic waste bin is to become standard everywhere.

The Greens want NRW to produce no more waste by 2050. Things should last long and be easy to repair. Companies get help from the state for this. Every household should have a free bin for food and garden waste.

The Greens want to develop the state's waste management plan into a circular economy plan and revise the state circular economy act. The platform treats waste as tomorrow's raw materials. The state is to prefer resource-saving products in its own purchasing.

The Greens see waste as a raw material. The state should make a new plan for this. A law should change too. The state itself should buy products that need few raw materials. Old toxic substances in the ground should be recorded and removed.

The Greens want a new state building code that, for the first time, sets binding quotas for recycled building materials. For state construction contracts, recyclability and the use of recycled materials would become permanent tender criteria. The aim is to make North Rhine-Westphalia a leader in sustainable construction.

The Greens want builders to reuse more old material. The state building law should set fixed rules for this. When the state itself builds, it should look for recycled material. The state should also pay for research on building materials.

The Greens want to overhaul the rules for extracting gravel, sand and other rock in North Rhine-Westphalia and gradually reduce demand for new raw materials. They point to conflicts over landscape damage and groundwater and to the dangers they say the flooding in Blessem revealed.

A lot of gravel and sand is dug up in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Greens want to limit this more. Companies should get fewer new areas for digging. Old permits for gravel pits should be checked. The state should steer the planning itself.

The Greens want to charge a levy on every ton of rock extracted. It is meant to make companies and end customers share the follow-up costs and to make alternative building materials more attractive. Extraction firms would also have to submit restoration plans to get a permit.

Companies that dig up rock should pay a levy. A levy is money paid to the state. The money should be used to clean up polluted land, for example. Companies should also hand in a plan first. The plan says how they will restore nature afterward.

The SPD wants to move the economy to a circular model as quickly as possible, in which raw materials are reused rather than used up. It plans a state strategy, a competence center and more research funding. The party stands by growth but wants to achieve it without harm to the environment and climate.

The SPD wants raw materials to be used again and again. Waste should be reused somewhere else. This is called a circular economy. The state should have a plan and an expert center for this. The economy should still grow.

The SPD wants to set up a pilot project called "Climate-Neutral Consumption" to inform people about sustainable consumption. The state is to use reusable instead of single-use containers on its own premises and at its events; packaging-free shops are to get tax advantages, and supermarkets are to be required to have packaging-free sections.

The SPD wants less waste. A project should explain how to shop in a climate-friendly way. The state itself should use reusable containers. Shops without packaging should pay less tax. Supermarkets should have to offer a section without packaging.

The SPD wants to limit daily land consumption in North Rhine-Westphalia to five hectares. New housing, commercial zones and bike paths are to be built mainly on already developed land within towns and on former industrial sites.

The SPD wants less open land to be built on. The limit should be five hectares a day. New homes and businesses should mostly go inside towns. Old industrial sites should be used again.

The SPD wants to introduce a statewide raw materials strategy and gradually reduce the extraction of gravel and sand. Recycled construction rubble is to increasingly replace them as a building material, because the platform says extraction permanently alters the landscape.

The SPD wants less gravel and sand to be dug up. There should be a plan for the whole state. Builders should reuse more old rubble. The SPD says gravel and sand will run out one day.

The SPD wants to work out a long-term water management plan with municipalities and the water sector. It is to include measures against heavy rain, flooding, heat and drought and secure the drinking water supply. Cities are to be redesigned along the sponge city principle.

The SPD wants a plan for water in the state. The plan should protect against floods and drought. It should also keep drinking water safe. Cities should soak up rain better. This is called a sponge city.

The SPD wants to carry out the goals of the Volksinitiative Artenvielfalt (citizens' initiative on biodiversity) in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its reasoning is that about 45 percent of animal and plant species in the state are endangered, threatened with extinction or already extinct.

The SPD wants to protect animals and plants better. Many species in the state are in danger. The SPD wants to carry out the goals of a citizens' initiative. One goal is a new national park in the Senne area.

The SPD wants forests to be managed in a near-natural way so that they can withstand climate change. Forests and moors are to be restored quickly as carbon stores, and the party wants to prevent peat extraction.

The SPD wants to make forests stronger. They should cope better with heat and drought. Forests and moors store carbon. So they should become more natural again. Peat should no longer be dug up.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for mandatory insurance against natural hazards. This would make property insurable even where insurers offer no coverage today and spread premiums across many policyholders. Flood protection is also to be planned faster and funded more generously.

The SPD wants mandatory insurance against damage from nature. Flood damage is one example. Then people in risky areas can also get insurance. The costs are shared by many people. Flood protection should also be built faster.