Umweltbundesamt
Click to enlargeGesetze regeln, wie die Landwirtschaft die Natur nutzt und beeinflusst.
Intensive agriculture is a major source of pollution and other environmental damage. It is responsible for a considerable share of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, biodiversity loss, pollution of environmental media and threats to natural soil function.
The use of the environment by agriculture and the influence agriculture has on the environment are regulated in Germany by a number of central environmental laws, for example the Federal Nature Conservation Act, the Federal Soil Protection Act, the Federal Water Act and the Federal Immission Control Act. The legislation on state aid as well as the provisions of specific agricultural law, e.g. the legislation on fertilization and plant protection products, are also relevant to environmental protection in agriculture as they contain important environmental requirements for agricultural production.
The German Environment Agency believes that the environmental requirements for agriculture laid down in relevant legislation are not yet sufficient to effectively steer agriculture towards a more sustainable use of natural resources and allow environmental quality objectives for water, soil, air and the climate to be achieved. It therefore recommends that environmental considerations in agricultural law should be further strengthened.
The UBA’s motto, For our environment (“Für Mensch und Umwelt”), sums up our mission pretty well, we feel. In this video we give an insight into our work.
