Munich (dpa / lby) – Three years after the bee referendum, the state government has completed 80 percent of the work orders for species protection, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment. “We are looking back on three years of top-level species protection,” said Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr (free voters) on Thursday. “We want to stop the loss of species in Bavaria.” Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) emphasized that Bavaria is a leader in organic farming.
The ÖDP, which is not represented in the state parliament, the Greens, the Bund Naturschutz, the Landesbund für Vogelschutz and their supporters initiated the referendum “Save the Bees” in 2019 – originally against the resistance of the state government and the farmers’ association. Due to the record participation, the CSU and Freie Wahler then gave up their resistance, accepted the draft law of the desire and wrote an accompanying law.
“We want to draw thriving ribbons through Bavaria,” said Glauber. As an example, he named the implementation of the so-called biotope network, i.e. the networking of existing habitats throughout the country, which has been realized to a large extent. According to the state government, the area target for 2023 of ten percent of the open land will be “pretty certain” already achieved in 2022. By 2030, at least 15 percent of open land in Bavaria should be in the biotope network.
The initiators of the referendum assess the situation differently: “The self-assessment by the state government does not represent the whole of reality,” said the sponsors. Instead of taking stock in a hurry, clear facts about the biotope network with concrete maps and quality criteria are needed. “We’re still waiting in vain for that,” said Ludwig Hartmann (Greens).
The announcement that the goal set for the biotope network of at least ten percent of the country’s open land area has already been achieved can only be made by flattery. “Outside in the landscape, practically nothing has changed in the biotope network.”
Agnes Becker, representative of the petition for a referendum and head of the ÖDP state, said it was not surprising that the state government was praising its own work. On behalf of the 1.7 million citizens, the support group will, with scientific support, “present a realistic assessment of what has been achieved and what has not been achieved in the coming week and thus check the homework.”
