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With 357,111 square kilometers Germany is a small country. And every day nearly 100 hectares (247 acres) of its surface disappear under new roads, buildings, parking lots and industrial areas. A process with many negative consequences: The sealed areas are completely lost as habitats for animals and plants. Roads cut the living zones and interfere migrations. Land use and landscape fragmentation are among the main causes of species extinction. Constructed and sealed areas intrude into the natural water household. The groundwater recharge is disturbed and the risk of flooding rises, with immense damage to man and nature - and with considerable costs. With the expansion of settlements a growth in traffic is connected. Land use leads to more noise, more exhaust gas and increases energy consumption. Finally, the sealing causes higher temperatures in comparison to open land areas and deteriorates the human environment.
Of course, the Federal Government of Germany knows all this, and has already in 2002 set a target to reduce the daily consumption of land from at that time 110 hectares to 30 hectares in the year 2020.
"But in fact we still destroy almost 100 hectares of our landscape every day, which is more than three times as much," said Leif Miller, Director of the German environmental organization NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union). "This has to change, otherwise Germany is concreted with no mercy."
To draw the public attention on this alarming situation, on May, 10 th NABU activists rolled out a 625-square meter banner in the heart of Germany’s capital Berlin. The size of the banner corresponds to the current landscape consumption in Germany per minute. NABU chose the day for the impressive action deliberately, because on this "30 hectares day" the total annual space of the 2020 target has already been used up. This means that from now on excavators, bulldozers and concrete mixers would have to stand still in Germany for the rest of the year. "As soon as space obtains the value of a precious raw material in the consciousness of the people, we can expect a change of view," said the German Research Minister Annette Schavan, who supported the action of NABU. "The research funding for sustainable land management of my ministry has shown the importance of awareness-raising communications. This includes the 30-hectares day. "
Measures, which may help to reach the 30-hectares goal include:
- constructing new buildings in a land saving manner,
- the increased use of fallow land and other vacant land in already developed areas,
- unsealing areas wherever it is possible,
- recycling of land, for example by cleaning up polluted areas.
But above all, the cities and municipalities have to refrain from permanently disclosing new business areas in the hope of attracting new businesses and creating new jobs. That this is possible is shown by the example of the German city of Tübingen. "By consistent internal development, such as the reuse of abandoned barracks sites, we have managed to reduce the landscape consumption in Tübingen to almost zero," said Boris Palmer, the Mayor of the town of 87,000 inhabitants.
