Eco account

An eco-account serves to make the enforcement of nature conservation and building law intervention regulations more flexible. Current compensatory and replacement measures are documented and can be entered in a pool of areas. The areas are available for later interventions in nature and landscape as part of compensation measures.

The eco-account is based on the legal basis of Section 16 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and Section 18 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act in conjunction with Sections 1a and 200a of the Building Code .

history

The idea of the eco-account as a stock of measures was introduced in 1994 by the Ministry for Environment and Forests in Rhineland-Palatinate by administrative regulation in the field of nature conservation . In 1994 it included the state of Hesse in its state nature conservation law, as did Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt in 2004 and Baden-Württemberg in its state nature conservation laws in 2006 .

At the level of the building code, the basis for the eco-account was created on January 1, 1998 by making compensation measures for interventions in nature and the landscape more flexible.

The basis is § 1a and § 200a BauGB.

The relationship between building law and nature conservation law is regulated in Section 18 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Compensation measures could now be implemented before interventions and accumulated in a kind of savings book in the municipalities and later debited. The interventions are assigned to specific measures or areas that have already been carried out.

advantages

In nature conservation, the instrument was accompanied by a specialist discussion, with approval initially predominating, but around 2005 more and more critical voices were added. Apparently, the idea could not establish itself in planning practice to the extent expected.

- The eco-account has the advantage that nature conservation measures are bundled on certain areas and not, as before the introduction of the model, were carried out widely in the area. This is particularly beneficial for the creation of stepping stone biotopes and buffer areas for networking FFH areas. The amalgamation of different compensation areas can improve the effectiveness of compensation measures.

- The precautionary principle of the intervention regulation can be taken into account very well by the eco-account.

- The eco-account can also coordinate various compensations.

- The long-term maintenance of compensatory and replacement measures is easier and cheaper within a pool of areas than at different locations spread across the room.

- An eco-account for urban planning of nature as a recreational area is particularly suitable for municipal planning agencies.

- Planning agencies can become less dependent on the land market when they stock up the space if they stock up inexpensive space at an early stage, which also has advantages for future polluters who implement their obligation to compensate and replace.

- Eco-accounts accelerate the planning process, as there is no need to look for space for compensation and replacement, and they reduce the potential for conflict.

- Eco-accounts enable a long-term development of nature, which does not only begin at the time of the intervention and replacement measure, but has started long before. A temporal compensation gap is avoided as far as this is possible depending on the biotope type.

disadvantage

- Both the eco-account operator and the municipalities make advance financing payments when purchasing the land. Depending on the size of the area, this can lead to a considerable burden on the municipal treasury.

- Due to the necessary refinancing of the eco-accounts, the eco-account operator can develop an interest in interventions in nature and the landscape that are worthy of compensation. This would reduce the avoidance principle of the intervention regulation to absurdity.

- The eco-account can focus the actions of nature conservation administrations, so that measures that are not suitable for eco-accounts but are ecologically necessary are neglected.

- Measures are often taken within the framework of the eco-account that cannot be used as compensation for later interventions. The assumed direct connection between intervention and specific compensation and replacement is potentially dissolved.

- The eco-points of the eco-accounts can suggest that the destruction of nature can be mapped completely in monetary terms. But especially the resource area becomes scarcer with each new sealing. The fact that compensation planning tends to be more favorable in terms of time for the intervention process by calling up eco-account measures tends to favor Germany's high land consumption. Even with eco-account measures, the nature conservation quality is not given per se, at least without the usual lack of control.

Legal basis in the federal states

state	law	regulation	More information
Baden-Württemberg	Section 22 NatSchG	Evaluation of the biotope types of Baden-Württemberg to determine the compensation requirement in the intervention regulation. 2005
Bavaria	BayNatSchG	Compensation Ordinance	Notes on requirements and documentation (PDF; 147 kB)
Berlin	§ 14 NatschGBln (PDF)		Procedure for evaluating and accounting for interventions in the State of Berlin (PDF)
Brandenburg	§ 14 ( Memento of August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) BbgNatschG (PDF)	Area pool regulation	Notes on intervention regulation
Bremen	Section 9 BremNatSchG
Hamburg	§ 7 HmbBNatSchAG
Hesse	Section 16 HENatG	Compensation Ordinance
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	Section 12 (5) NatSchAG MV		Notes on the intervention regulation (PDF; 762 kB)
Lower Saxony	No legal basis known
North Rhine-Westphalia	§ 5a LG (PDF; 202 kB)	Eco account VO	Numerical evaluation of biotope types for the intervention regulation in NRW (PDF; 427 kB)
Rhineland-Palatinate	Section 11 LNatschG
Saarland	§ 30 SNG (PDF; 213 kB)		Surgery evaluation guide (PDF)
Saxony	Section 9a SächsNatSchG	Introductory decree for the Saxon eco-account regulation (PDF; 440 kB)	Recommended action for evaluating and accounting for interventions in the Free State of Saxony (PDF)
Saxony-Anhalt	§ 20 Abs. 3 NatSchG LSA	Eco-account regulation	Guideline on the assessment and accounting for interventions in the state of Saxony-Anhalt (PDF; 70 kB)
Schleswig-Holstein	§ 10 LNatSchG	Ecological account and compensation area cadastre ordinance (PDF)	Orientation framework for inventory recording, evaluation and determination of compensation measures in the context of landscape maintenance accompanying planning for road construction projects (compensation determination for road construction). 2004
Thuringia	[ home.arcor.de ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) § 7 Paragraph 3] ThürNatG		The intervention regulation in Thuringia. Accounting model (PDF; 735 kB)

Procedure run

The structure of the procedure in the implementation of the eco-account regulations is reserved to the state law of the individual states.

Examples

In Groß-Gerau , the renunciation of use of 20 hectares of community forest was recognized as a compensation measure under nature conservation law and recorded in the community's eco-account amounting to 1.6 million so-called eco-points . The city of Mörfelden-Walldorf acquired 285,000 of these points for 100,000 euros to compensate for an intervention in nature.

literature

The eco-account - a precautionary instrument of the municipalities. (PDF; 485 kB) Bavarian State Ministry for Environment and Health, 2003, p. 15 , accessed on May 10, 2012 .
Jürgen Busse, Franz Dirnberg, Ulrike Pröbstl, Werner Schmid, 2001: The nature conservation law intervention regulation in the land use planning. With explanations on the eco-account. Munich, Rehm Verlag
Provision of measures - eco-account. Model for handling early compensation and replacement measures using the example of the area pool in the city quartet of Damme, Diepholz, Lohne, Vechta. Surface Agency GmbH, 2003, p. 69 , accessed on October 1, 2009 .
- MODEL FOR HANDLING PREFERRED COMPENSATION AND REPLACEMENT MEASURES - ECO ACCOUNT
Ruthard Hirschner, 2014: The municipal eco-account as an economic asset . (PhD thesis), Technical University of Kaiserslautern , Chair of Public Law

Web links

Nationwide press review at www.kompensationsflaechen-mv.de

Eco account in the forest. Exemplary implementation in Hessen.

Area agency Baden-Württemberg, provides services in the area of intervention regulation

Article by Report-Mainz (ARD) from August 20, 2019

Individual evidence

↑ Brandenburg is breaking new ground in the compensation of interventions in nature.
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 / M. Schmidt-Lüttmann: The eco-account in nature conservation law - a long development process. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 4
↑ T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. pp. 20/21
↑ T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. pp. 20/21
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
↑ T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. p. 21
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 . P. 39/40
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 . P. 40
↑ A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 41/42. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
↑ A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7
↑ A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 60. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
^ S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2
↑ R. Hirschner: The municipal eco-account as an asset. (Series of publications on spatial planning, building and environmental law, Vol. 14). Kaiserslautern 2014. p. 29. ISBN 978-3-943995-62-6
↑ Jessica Rabenschlag, Nicolas Schoof, Jochen Schumacher, Albert Reif: Evaluation of the implementation of building law compensatory measures . No. 51 (9) . Nature conservation and landscape planning, 2019, p. 434-442 ( researchgate.net ).
↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Earning rotting money , Main peak from June 9, 2010.@1@ 2

[1] Brandenburg is breaking new ground in the compensation of interventions in nature.

[2] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 / M. Schmidt-Lüttmann: The eco-account in nature conservation law - a long development process. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 4

[3] T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. pp. 20/21

[4] T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. pp. 20/21

[5] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[6] T. Herberling, J. Nitsch, H. Weinrebe: Eco account in the forest as a targeted instrument of nature conservation - exemplary implementation in state, corporate and private forests - model project for the development of a conflict-minimizing decision support system in Hesse. Final report AZ 23740-33 / 0 of the German Federal Environment Foundation. Frankfurt 2011. p. 21

[7] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 . P. 39/40

[8] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 49-54. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2 . P. 40

[9] A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7

[10] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[11] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. pp. 41/42. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[12] A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7

[13] A. Böhm, W. Kaiser: The eco-account regulation - an instrument to compensate for nature conservation law interventions. In: Nature Conservation Info. Issue 1 (2002). P. 7

[14] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[15] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 60. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[16] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[17] S. Wagner: Eco accounts and area pools. The legal basis, possibilities and limits of the stocking of areas and measures as compensation methods within the framework of the intervention regulation in urban planning law. (Writings on environmental law B. 153). Berlin 2007. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-428-12402-2

[18] R. Hirschner: The municipal eco-account as an asset. (Series of publications on spatial planning, building and environmental law, Vol. 14). Kaiserslautern 2014. p. 29. ISBN 978-3-943995-62-6

[19] Jessica Rabenschlag, Nicolas Schoof, Jochen Schumacher, Albert Reif: Evaluation of the implementation of building law compensatory measures . No. 51 (9) . Nature conservation and landscape planning, 2019, p. 434-442 ( researchgate.net ).

[20] Page no longer available , search in web archives: Earning rotting money , Main peak from June 9, 2010.@1@ 2