"It has taken decades to fight for our protection laws. Let's not allow them to be quietly abolished because conservative parties - such as the European People's Party, the sister party of the CDU/CSU - want to exploit the majority situation to abolish good and important protection standards." Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.1Hands off nature conservation! 🌐 https://www.duh.de/mitmachen/handsoffnature/
Open letter to the EU Commission
Plenary Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: envato /baspentruba Editorial use
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
As a committed EU citizen, I would like to express my clear rejection of all efforts to weaken existing environmental and nature conservation laws or to water them down for purely economic interests. Especially now, when the effects of the climate crisis and the extinction of species are becoming ever clearer, a strong legal framework for nature conservation is more urgent than ever2Hands off nature conservation! 🌐 https://www.duh.de/mitmachen/handsoffnature/ .
There are major deficits in implementation and monitoring both at EU level and in the member states. In many places, environmental protection laws are not sufficiently monitored and violations are rarely and usually not consistently sanctioned. The existing weak legal situation is already preventing effective intervention - a further watering down of these laws would be tantamount to the creeping dismantling of our nature conservation. This also contradicts the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and massively jeopardises all European climate targets 3UNFCCC: The Paris Agreement 🌐 https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement 4BMUV: Paris Climate Agreement - goals and implementation 🌐 https://www.bmu.de/themen/klimaschutz-anpassung/internationale-klimapolitik/pariser-abkommen 5BMZ: Goals of the Paris Agreement 🌐 https://www.bmz.de/de/service/lexikon/pariser-abkommen-19186 6DUH: The goals of the Paris Climate Agreement 🌐 https://www.duh.de/klimaziele-pariser-abkommen/ .
Concrete, current examples of the failure of environmental legislation, where decisive intervention at EU level would have been necessary but failed to materialise:
- Deforestation by large corporations such as IKEA, Poco, ...: Large areas of primary forest are destroyed for "fast furniture" - often despite clear sustainability violations 7Fast furniture - short-lived furniture and its downsides 🌐 https://www.verbraucherzentrale.nrw/wissen/umwelt-haushalt/nachhaltigkeit/fast-furniture-kurzlebige-moebel-und-ihre-schattenseiten-109738 .
- Deforestation by large corporations such as Amazon, Zalando, ...: Large areas of primary forest are destroyed for cheap shipping boxes instead of using recycled materials 8 Greenpeace: Europe's primeval forests cut down for cardboard 🌐 https://greenpeace.at/petitionen/urwaelder-norden/ 9 Greenpeace: Sweden's forests end up as packaging waste 🌐 https://www.greenpeace.de/biodiversitaet/waelder/waelder-erde/schwedens-waelder-enden-verpackungsmuell-hellofresh-zalando 10 pro.earth: Primeval forests as disposable cardboard boxes 🌐 https://pro.earth/2025/02/07/urwaelder-als-einwegkartons/ 11 Greenpeace: Amazon, HelloFresh & Zalando linked to forest destruction 🌐 https://presseportal.greenpeace.de/237579-amazon-hellofresh-und-zalando-in-verbindung-mit-waldzerstorung/ .
- Poisoning and overexploitation of natural resources, for example through water abstraction and groundwater pollution by international corporations such as Nestlé 12Kritik an Nestlé wegen Wasserentnahme und Umweltfolgen 🌐 https://www.dw.com/de/nestl%C3%A9-wasserweltkonzern-unter-druck/a-53485648 13 DW: Kritik an Nestlé wegen Wasserentnahme und Umweltfolgen 🌐 https://www.dw.com/de/nestl%C3%A9-wasserweltkonzern-unter-druck/a-53485648 14 The Guardian: Nestlé's bottled water operations face protests 🌐 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/01/nestle-bottled-water-protests-drought-california 15 National Geographic: Water Crisis and Nestlé 🌐 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/bottled-water-nestle-california-drought .
- Heating of rivers by nuclear power plants, especially in France: negative consequences for biodiversity and water quality 16Nuclear power plants heat up rivers - climate problems caused by the energy sector 🌐 https://taz.de/Frankreichs-AKWs/!5986429/ 17 Context: Consequences of nuclear power plant cooling for rivers 🌐 https://www.kontextwochenzeitung.de/gesellschaft/636/zu-warm-fuer-fische-8970.html 18 Süddeutsche: Heat shock for aquatic life 🌐 https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/umwelt-biodiversitaet-hitze-fluesse-1.5042751 .
- Killing primates for no good reason - such as the case of the twelve baboons at Nuremberg Zoo 19Monkey killings in German zoos: The baboon crisis in Nuremberg 🌐 https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/nuernberg-tiergarten-paviane-tierschutz-1.4671709 20 BR: Criticism of the killing of baboons at Nuremberg Zoo 🌐 https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/tiergarten-nuernberg-kritik-pavian-toetung 21 PETA: Criminal charges filed after baboon killings in Nuremberg 🌐 https://www.peta.de/aktionen/paviane-nuernberg/ .
- Cruel and sometimes illegal live animal transports within and outside the EU: violations of animal welfare regulations, e.g. documented by Animals' Angels 22Animals' Angels: Documentation of animal transport offences 🌐 https://www.animals-angels.de/unsere-arbeit.html .
- Contamination of nature conservation areas by neighbouring agriculture 23Agriculture and nature: stress test for nature reserves 🌐 https://www.bund.net/themen/landwirtschaft/umweltprobleme/ .
- State subsidies for climate-damaging animal products instead of sustainable support for plant-based nutrition 24Subsidies for meat production: criticism from environmentalists 🌐 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/klimaschutz-durch-agrarreform 25 BUND: Why animal products are so cheap 🌐 https://www.bund.net/landwirtschaft/subventionen/ 26 Greenpeace: Billions for cheap meat instead of climate protection 🌐 https://www.greenpeace.de/themen/landwirtschaft/nahrungsmittel/agrarsubventionen/fleisch-subventionen-bauern-klimaschutz-strategie .
- Reintroduction and use of pesticides containing glyphosate, contrary to scientific recommendations 27Glyphosate in the EU: New authorisation against environmental protection 🌐 https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/verbraucher/glyphosat-eu-erneute-zulassung-100.html 28 Tagesschau: Glyphosate in the EU - renewed authorisation despite criticism 🌐 https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/verbraucher/glyphosat-eu-erneute-zulassung-100.html 29 Munich Environmental Institute: Glyphosate - risks strictly ignored 🌐 https://www.umweltinstitut.org/themen/pestizide/glyphosat/ 30 BUND: Glyphosate - What does science say? 🌐 https://www.bund.net/themen/chemie/pestizide/herbizide/glyphosat/
- Animal suffering for online reach, for example by putting animals in danger and "rescuing" them for clicks on Facebook and TikTok 31 Why you shouldn't watch these videos 🌐 https://youtu.be/ld2fD74WEKU 32 PETA: "Fake Animal Rescue" videos are booming 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/fake-animal-rescue-video/ 33 SWR: Cruelty to animals for likes? The business with "fake rescues" 🌐 https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/freiburg/tierquaelerei-fuer-likes-youtube-100.html
- Return to fossil fuels in Germany: fracking gas from Lake Ammersee and offshore drilling off Borkum 34 Tagesschau: Debate about fracking at Lake Ammersee 🌐 https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/fracking-ammersee-100.html 35 BR: Fracking in Bavaria - arguments and protests 🌐 https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/fracking-ammersee-bayern-bohrungen 36 NDR: Gas drilling off Borkum - criticism of new plans 🌐 https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/Borkum-Tiefseebohrung-Naturschuetzer-klagen,fossilesgas100.html 37 WWF: Gas drilling threatens Borkum's Wadden Sea 🌐 https://www.wwf.de/themen-projekte/meere-kuesten/naturschutz-in-der-nordsee/borkums-gasbohrung-wwf-kritisiert-plaene ..
All these exemplary cases show that the existing legal situation is too weak, controls are too patchy and sanctions are far too rare. Further weakening is absolutely the wrong approach.
I would like to emphasise that regulatory requirements are not an unreasonable burden. On the contrary, they are the basis for clean water, healthy air and food security. They guarantee our standard of living and safeguard our natural heritage for future generations.
Many of the EU's major environmental successes - such as the recovering populations of certain endangered species or improved water quality - are thanks to the existing regulatory framework 38Hands off nature conservation! 🌐 https://www.duh.de/mitmachen/handsoffnature/ .
Rivers, lakes and wetlands in Europe are among the most threatened ecosystems. It is essential to preserve and fully implement the existing laws of nature - not to weaken them.
Stop deforestation, protect our waters and drinking water resources, and strengthen Europe's natural heritage, wildlife and flora alike, through uncompromising implementation and effective control of existing laws.
Finally, I would like to ask you for an answer. As a tax-paying EU citizen, I consider this to be my right
With kind regards
Patrick Ruppelt
On the egg meadow 20
82031 Grünwald
Germany
E-mail: post@paddys.de
Am I hoping for an answer? Nope. But you want to have tried. How depressing.
Cover picture: Berlaymont building of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: iStock by Getty Images / Alexandros Michailidis editorial use.
