What do the parties in Saxony-Anhalt say on the environment and animal welfare?

The AfD rejects extracting natural gas by fracking in the state for the time being. It cites environmental, safety and health reasons. It also says Saxony-Anhalt has no deposits that would be worth exploiting.

The AfD wants no fracking in Saxony-Anhalt. Fracking means pumping fluid into the ground to get gas. The AfD says this harms nature and health. It also says the state has too little gas for it.

The AfD wants to reduce the wolf population in a targeted way and dissolve the state's wolf competence center. It commits to hunting and wants to allow hunters more technical aids. The platform points to rising costs caused by wolves and sees a danger to people.

The AfD says there are too many wolves. It wants to lower the number of wolves. The state's wolf center should close. Hunters should be allowed to use more equipment. Examples are night-vision devices and silencers.

The AfD wants to replant bare forest areas, primarily with native tree species, and give private forest owners financial support. The Landesdarre Annaburg, a state facility that produces forest seed, is to be expanded. Asylum seekers would be required to help with reforestation and forest maintenance.

Many forest areas are bare. The AfD wants to plant new trees there. Private forest owners should get help for this. The Landesdarre in Annaburg should grow. It produces seeds for trees. Asylum seekers should have to help in the forest.

The AfD wants to strengthen regional slaughter and meat-processing facilities and restrict animal transports to short distances. Slaughter without stunning would be banned by deleting the exemption in the Animal Welfare Act. The platform justifies both with animal welfare.

The AfD wants more slaughterhouses in the region. Animals should only travel short distances. The AfD is against animal transports to countries outside the EU. Slaughter without stunning should be banned. This also applies to religious slaughter.

The AfD wants to give the state's animal shelters permanent, simple funding for upkeep, modernization and new buildings. It also calls for a statewide requirement to neuter free-roaming cats. According to the platform, many shelters are overcrowded and carry out tasks that are municipalities' legal duties.

Many animal shelters are too full. The AfD wants to give them lasting funding. They can use it to build and repair. Cats that go outside should have to be neutered. That way there should be fewer stray cats.

The AfD wants to abolish the right of associations to bring lawsuits. According to the party, environmental groups in particular use this right to block road construction and other infrastructure projects. Only those whose own rights are affected should be able to sue.

Today, groups can go to court against building projects. The AfD wants to end this right. Only people who are affected themselves should be able to sue. The AfD says environmental groups use this right to stop roads.

The AfD wants to introduce mandatory insurance against natural hazard damage where there is a flood risk, along with a share in the gains from inner-city redevelopment after natural disasters. It also wants more floodplains and a swift completion of ongoing protection projects.

The AfD wants required insurance against flood damage. It applies where floods are a risk. Rivers should get more room. There should be more land that water is allowed to flood. Protection projects already started should be finished quickly.

The BSW wants to redesign towns and municipalities so they cope better with heat and heavy rain. It also wants to protect the state's especially fertile black-earth soils from development.

Towns should get more green space and less concrete. That helps against heat and heavy rain. The BSW also wants to protect the very fertile soils in the state. New business parks should be built on poorer soils.

The BSW wants to reforest damaged woodland and speed up the conversion to resilient mixed forests. The state forestry administration is to be preserved for the long term. Timber is to be promoted more strongly as a building material.

Many forests in the state are damaged. The BSW wants new trees planted there. Private forest owners should get money and advice. The state forestry service should stay. More wood should be used in building.

The BSW wants to rewrite the state hunting and fishing laws and cut red tape in the process. The inclusion of the wolf in hunting law is to be adopted quickly at state level. The party intends to push back against additional bureaucracy from the EU.

The BSW wants to rewrite the laws on hunting and fishing. They should become simpler and more digital. The wolf should come under hunting law. Then hunting rules apply to it. The state should do this quickly.

The BSW wants to restore peatlands, floodplains, and waters and preserve protected areas such as the Harz National Park. Endangered species and pollinators are to be better protected, and animal cruelty prosecuted more consistently. According to the platform, restored peatlands also reduce flooding and store CO₂.

The BSW wants to protect animals and plants better. Peatlands and river floodplains should become natural again. This helps against floods. Protected areas like the Harz should stay safe. People who are cruel to animals should be punished more strictly.

The BSW calls for a state program with binding measures against nitrate in groundwater. The platform names over-fertilization, intensive farming, and improperly stored organic matter as the main causes. The party sees water protection as a central public task.

In some areas there is too much nitrate in the groundwater. Nitrate comes mainly from fertilizer and manure. The BSW wants a state program against it. There should be firm rules for farming. The state should also check how much fertilizer is used.

The BSW wants a statewide water strategy to address drought and conflicts over water use. Drinking water and agriculture are to take precedence over industry. The platform cites falling groundwater levels and pollution from nitrate and legacy contamination.

The BSW wants a water plan for the whole state. Drinking water and farming should get water first. Industry comes after that. Rainwater should seep into the ground. The party says groundwater is running low.

The BSW wants to give rivers more room to flood by moving dikes back and restoring floodplains. According to the platform, engineered flood defenses alone are not enough. The party rejects new river barrages.

The BSW wants to give rivers more space. Dikes should stand farther from the river. Then floodwater can spread out. The party does not want new barrages. A barrage holds back the water in a river.

The BSW demands that the toxic sludge pit at Brüchau in the Altmark be fully excavated rather than merely capped. The company that caused the contamination, or its legal successor, is to pay. The party cites a state parliament resolution from June 2020.

There is a pit with toxic sludge in Brüchau. The BSW wants to empty the pit completely. Just covering it is not enough for the party. The company that caused the damage should pay. This is meant to keep groundwater clean.

The BSW wants better resources for animal shelters and veterinary offices and wants shelter dogs exempted from the dog tax. The list of dog breeds classed as dangerous is to be dropped and replaced by behavior-based assessment and a dog handler license. Through the Bundesrat, the state is to push for mandatory pet health insurance.

The BSW wants to give animal shelters more money. Dogs from shelters should not cost dog tax. The list of dangerous dog breeds should go. Instead, owners should get a dog handler license. Pets should get health insurance.

The BSW wants animal welfare rules in livestock farming enforced more strictly and checked more often. Slaughterhouses are to face more unannounced inspections, and long animal transports are to be approved less readily. Animal testing is to be cut to the minimum necessary.

The BSW wants to protect animals better. Officials should inspect slaughterhouses more often, also without warning. Long trips with animals should happen less often. Barns should offer more space. There should be fewer tests on animals.

The BSW wants to ban animal performances in circuses through state law. In the party's view, keeping, transporting and using animals for entertainment is incompatible with species-appropriate care.

The BSW wants no more animals in circuses. The state should ban such shows. The party says animals suffer in circuses. They are stressed there and get sick.

The BSW wants to gradually make veterinary care a public responsibility. The state would run animal clinics across the region itself, and veterinarians could be employed in the public sector. The party cites economic pressure and heavy psychological strain in the profession.

The BSW wants to change how vet care works. The state should take over this job step by step. The state should run animal clinics itself. Vets should be able to work for the state. They would then get union-scale pay and fixed hours.

The CDU wants to fund the conversion of forests to climate-adapted mixed stands and relies on active management and the use of timber. No tax money should go toward deliberately setting forest areas aside. Small private forest owners are to get special support.

Heat and pests are harming the forest. The CDU wants to plant other trees that cope better. The forest should still be used, for example for wood. Owners of small forests should get help.

The CDU wants rules that allow the wolf population to be regulated, citing the safety of people and grazing animals. Compensation for damage caused by protected animals is to be extended from wolves to other species such as beavers and rooks.

The CDU wants to limit the number of wolves. It says this protects people and grazing animals. Farmers get money today when wolves cause damage. This should also apply to damage from beavers and rooks.

The CDU wants the EU Nature Restoration Regulation repealed in full. It should be replaced by a new set of rules that the party considers practical, fair and backed by funding. The CDU rejects new protected areas on land used for farming or forestry.

The EU has a law to restore nature. The CDU wants to scrap this law. There should be new rules that everyone helps shape. Fields and forests should not get extra protection status.

The CDU does not want Saxony-Anhalt to tighten environmental rules beyond what the EU and the federal government require. State law should adopt those rules one-to-one. The administration should also work more efficiently.

The EU and the federal government make rules to protect the environment. The CDU does not want the state to make them stricter. The state should adopt them exactly as they are. Offices should work faster.

The CDU wants to preserve biodiversity, link habitats more closely and revise the state's biodiversity strategy. Protected areas are to keep receiving support and remain open to visitors. At the same time, it should be possible to review the protection status of species.

The CDU wants to protect animals and plants. Their habitats should be better connected. Protected areas should stay, and people should be able to visit them. The state should be able to check whether a species still needs protection.

The CDU wants to give more funding to animal shelters, animal welfare associations and sanctuaries. The ordinance on neutering cats is to apply across the whole state. Volunteers in animal welfare are to receive more recognition and reliable support.

The CDU wants to give animal shelters more money. Animal welfare groups and sanctuaries should get more help too. Cats should have to be neutered all over the state. This should lead to fewer stray cats.

The CDU wants to support recycling and the circular economy as an industry and make it easier to use recycled building materials. Extracting raw materials within the state is to remain possible in order to preserve value chains. Environmental technology companies are also to keep receiving support.

The CDU wants more things to be used again. It should be easier to reuse old building material. The government should set an example. Raw materials should still be mined in the state.

The Greens want Saxony-Anhalt to implement the EU Nature Restoration Regulation quickly so that damaged ecosystems return to a near-natural state. They also want to safeguard the right of recognized environmental organizations to bring lawsuits.

The Greens want to repair damaged nature quickly. There is an EU rule for this. The state should put this rule into practice soon. Environmental groups should still be allowed to go to court.

The Greens want long-term, sufficient funding for the national natural monument “Grünes Band Sachsen-Anhalt” (Green Belt). A visitor center is to be built, and the area is to combine nature conservation, remembrance and low-impact tourism.

The Green Belt lies along the former border through Germany. Today it is a protected area for nature. The Greens want to give it enough money for the long term. A center for visitors should be built.

The Greens want at least one landscape management farm for biotope development in every county. This is meant to improve how conservation measures are organized and carried out locally.

The Greens want a landscape care farm in every county. This farm looks after habitats for animals and plants. That way, nature protection should work better locally. Farmers, towns and conservationists should work together there.

The Greens want to designate more protected areas in order to link habitats into a connected biotope network. They also plan a peatland protection program and a funding program for floodplains.

The Greens want more protected areas. These areas should be connected to each other. That helps animals and plants survive. Peatlands and river floodplains should also get more protection.

The Greens want to set up a nature conservation academy to train and upskill specialists. They also want to strengthen volunteering in environmental protection, conservation associations and environmental education centers across the state.

The Greens want to found an academy for nature conservation. Specialists for nature protection learn there. Volunteers and conservation groups should get more support. Places for environmental education should get enough money.

The Greens want to continue funding for small projects in nature conservation and environmental education. The state is also to reliably provide its share of conservation programs paid for by the EU and the federal government so that funds are not lost.

The Greens want to keep funding small projects for nature. The money should come quickly and easily. The EU and the federal government pay for some conservation programs. The state should reliably pay its share.

The Greens want a statewide soil protection plan to preserve soil as a finite resource and to keep the fertile black earth soils in particular from being sealed. A new land law is meant to secure sustainable use of farmland.

Good soil is important for food. The Greens want to protect it with a plan for the whole state. Fewer large facilities should be built on valuable farmland. There should be fewer harmful substances in the soil.

The Greens want to better protect people, animals, and plants from noise and artificial light at night. Noise protection is to be expanded and nighttime lighting limited to what is needed.

The Greens want less noise. They also want less light at night. Too much light disturbs insects and birds. Less light also saves energy.

The Greens want large water users to pay more for extracting water. Given increasing droughts, this is meant to create an incentive to save.

Some businesses use a lot of water. They should pay more for it. This should make them save water. Farmers and fish farmers would get a discount.

The Greens want stronger protection of rivers, lakes, and groundwater from pollutants. Sewage plants would clean more thoroughly, land in water protection areas would be farmed only organically, and pollutant discharges banned in the long term.

The Greens want clean water. Sewage plants should filter out more pollutants. In water protection areas, farmers could only farm organically. Later, no one should be allowed to put pollutants into the water.

The Greens want to return rivers and floodplains to a more natural state and reject any expansion of the Elbe. This is meant to create habitats, secure biodiversity, and dampen floods.

The Greens want to make rivers more natural again. Rivers should get more room. The Elbe should not be expanded. There should be no new dams on it.

The Greens want to convert forests into species-rich, climate-adapted mixed forests. In state-owned forest, ecological rules stricter than the legal minimum would apply.

The Greens want healthy forests. Many different trees should grow there. This helps forests cope with heat and drought. There should be no more clear-cutting in state-owned forest.

The Greens want to strengthen the protection of farm animals through new rules and more effective inspections. This includes cameras in slaughterhouses, a ban on tail docking in pigs and keeping antibiotic use to a minimum.

The Greens want to protect farm animals better. Slaughterhouses should have to use cameras. Cutting pigs' tails should no longer be allowed. Animals should only get antibiotics when it is really needed.

The Greens want an immediate end to invasive animal experiments under the state's responsibility unless they are strictly necessary for basic biomedical research or applied medical research. Research without animal testing is to be funded instead.

The Greens want to stop many animal experiments right away. Only tests that medical research truly needs would stay allowed. Research without animals should get more money.

The Greens want new rules for keeping animals privately, including a mandatory dog owner's license, cat protection ordinances and a positive list of permitted species. Animal shelters are to be reliably funded through a state animal welfare fund.

The Greens want new rules for pets. Dog owners should have to get a dog license. A list should say which animals people may keep at home. Animal shelters should get steady money from the state.

The Greens want longer closed seasons and shorter hunting seasons so that wild animals have more time to reproduce and recover. Hunting and training methods that the party sees as violating animal welfare are to be banned.

The Greens want less hunting. Wild animals should have more quiet time each year. Some hunting methods should be banned, such as traps in the forest. Hunters should no longer be allowed to shoot dogs and cats.

The Greens want to avoid waste and keep raw materials in circulation longer. They call for a zero-waste guiding strategy for the state, a repair bonus, municipal packaging taxes and a revised waste law.

The Greens want less trash. People who get a broken device repaired should get some money back. Towns should be allowed to tax throwaway packaging. The state should not build new landfills for construction waste.

The Greens want to end waste shipments across regions and process more waste locally. They also want to find new uses for waste and recover phosphorus.

The Greens want to stop moving trash over long distances. Trash should be processed in the region. Phosphorus should be recovered from waste and wastewater. Phosphorus is an important raw material.

The Greens want to make it easier to build with timber and other renewable materials and to subsidize this. Materials already in buildings should be reused as far as possible, through recycled building materials, exchanges for used components and gypsum recycling.

The Greens want more buildings made of wood, clay, straw and hemp. Old building materials should be used again. There should be exchanges for used building parts. Gypsum waste should no longer go to landfills.

The Greens want to reduce daily land consumption significantly by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. From then on, new sealing of land would only be possible if land is unsealed elsewhere at the same time.

The Greens want less land to be built over. By 2030 it should be much less. From 2050, anyone who builds over land must free up land somewhere else. Cities should become denser and greener at the same time.

The Left wants to support keepers of grazing animals with state-funded herd protection and fast compensation. Individual wolves may be killed under narrow conditions, but the party rejects fixed population caps or blanket shooting quotas.

The Left wants to protect sheep, goats and cattle on pastures better. The state should pay for this protection. If a wolf kills animals, owners should get money quickly. Single wolves may be killed only in certain cases. The Left does not want a fixed maximum number of wolves.

The Left wants to support beekeepers, angling clubs and allotment garden associations because, in the platform's view, they contribute to nature conservation and village life. Allotment gardens are to be preserved and not converted into building land.

The Left wants to help beekeepers. Fishing clubs should get help too. Small community gardens should stay. They should not be turned into building land.

The Left wants to speed up the conversion of Saxony-Anhalt's forests into mixed woodland that can better withstand drought, heat and pests. The platform points to the heavy damage of recent years, which it says hit monocultures hardest.

Heat and beetles have damaged many forests in the state. The Left wants forests with many kinds of trees. Mixed forests cope better with dry weather. The change should happen faster.

The Left wants to give the public forestry administration more staff and better pay and to rule out selling state-owned forest. The platform argues that sustainable management requires reliable public structures.

The state has its own forestry service. The Left wants to hire more people there and pay them well. The state should not sell its forest. Small forest owners should get help.

The Left wants wood used primarily as a building material and for durable products, with burning as the last option. Wind turbines in forests are to be allowed only on land of low ecological value, and protection against forest fires is to be improved.

Wood should first be used for building and furniture. Burning it should be the last choice. Wind turbines should only stand on bare forest land. Fire crews should be better equipped for forest fires.

The Left wants to revise hunting law so that hunting follows ecological goals and animal welfare while remaining workable in practice. The platform sees hunting as a tool against crop damage, for forest conversion and against animal diseases.

The Left wants new rules for hunting. Hunting should help nature and cause little suffering. Wild boar should be hunted more. Hunters, farmers and conservation groups should work together.

The Left wants permanent public funding for animal shelters and stronger state structures for animal welfare. According to the platform, associations and volunteers currently carry out tasks that should really be the state's responsibility.

Animal shelters take care of lost animals. The Left says this is the state's job. So the state should pay shelters on a lasting basis. There should also be programs for cats and pigeons.

The Left wants to give animal welfare organizations standing to sue so that violations of animal welfare law can be brought to court. It also calls for mandatory registration of pets, an end to breed-specific dog lists and a ban on animals in circuses.

Animals cannot go to court themselves. So animal welfare groups should be allowed to sue for them. All pets should be tagged and registered. Circuses should no longer be allowed to show animals.

The Left wants to better resource nature conservation in the state, including through a state nature fund and stronger agencies. The platform counts intact nature as part of essential public services and does not want tasks shifted onto volunteers.

The Left wants to protect nature in the state better. Conservation offices should get more money and staff. A new fund should pay for conservation over the long term. Drained bogs should be made wet again.

The Left wants to turn Saxony-Anhalt into a leading location for recycling and raw material recovery. Waste management is to be run publicly as an essential service, and waste imports into the state are to stop. The program cites dependence on imported raw materials such as rare earths and the strain on climate and environment.

The Left wants more recycling in Saxony-Anhalt. Old materials should become raw materials again. Waste services should belong to the public. Waste from other regions should no longer come into the state. Repairs should become cheaper.

The Left wants to meet the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive quickly and in full, with more state funding. Drinking water and wastewater are to remain a public task, and privatizing springs is ruled out. In conflicts over water use, drinking water and ecosystems are to take priority.

The Left wants to protect rivers, streams and lakes better. The state should spend more money on this. Drinking water should belong to the public. Companies should not be allowed to buy springs. When water is scarce, drinking water comes first.

The Left wants to tie large industrial projects to a sound water plan and charge large users more through the water extraction fee. Industry's growing demand is not to come at the expense of residents and the environment. The party rejects the planned diversion of Elbe water into the Spree.

Big factories need a lot of water. The Left wants them to present a water plan first. Those who take a lot of water should pay more. People should not be worse off because of this. Water from the Elbe river should not be sent to the Spree river.

The Left wants to keep wastewater treatment in public hands and fund its modernization with state and federal money. The cost of stricter treatment standards under the new EU wastewater directive is to be borne, through a levy, by the producers of the polluting substances. This is meant to keep charges affordable for municipalities and households.

The Left wants sewage plants to stay public. The state and federal government should pay for new technology. Companies put harmful substances into the water. These companies should pay for the cleaning. That keeps costs low for people.

The SPD wants to rewet peatlands, restore floodplains and reforest with climate-resilient trees because these areas store CO₂ and strengthen biodiversity. Nature conservation is to be carried out voluntarily and together with farmers, associations and municipalities.

The SPD wants to protect peatlands, floodplains and forests. These areas store CO₂ and help many animals and plants. Nature protection should be voluntary and done in talks with local people. Farmers should take part too.

The SPD wants to hold more water in the landscape, keep the public water supply affordable and complete flood protection. The platform regards flood protection as protection of the population.

The SPD wants more water to stay in the ground. Drinking water should stay affordable. The repair of the dikes should be finished. Towns should get better warnings about floods and heavy rain.

The SPD wants a statewide ban on wild animals in circuses and in private keeping. Outdoor cats would have to be neutered, and animal shelters would get reliable funding. According to the platform, the aim is to prevent animal suffering.

The SPD wants to protect animals better. Circuses should no longer be allowed to have wild animals. Private people should not keep wild animals either. Cats that roam outside should be neutered. Animal shelters should get enough money.