Popular initiative for species protection - "Save the bees"

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The petition species protection - "Save the Bees" initiated by "proBiene - Free Institute of organic beekeeping" on the law amending the Nature Protection Act and the Agricultural and Land Management Act (abbreviations: Save the Bee ) was a launched in May 2019 referendum on the basis Articles 59 and 60 of the constitution of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Article 27 ff of the law on plebiscite, popular initiative and popular motion (VAbstG) in Baden-Wuerttemberg . The demands of the initiative were largely taken over by the state government in October 2019 in a key issues paper. On July 22, 2020, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg passed a law to amend the nature conservation law and the agricultural and state culture law.

object

The subject of the referendum was a "draft law amending the nature conservation law and the agricultural and regional culture law". The aim of the draft law was to ensure that the diversity of animal and plant species in Baden-Württemberg is safeguarded .

For this purpose, the bill provided, among other things:

  • Increase in the proportion of organic agriculture in Baden-Württemberg to at least 25 percent by 2025 and to at least 50 percent by 2035
  • Conversion of state-owned farms to ecological agriculture
  • Reduce pesticide use by 50 percent by 2025
  • Ban on pesticides on areas specially protected under nature conservation law, with clearly defined exceptions
  • Protection for extensively used fruit tree meadows, fruit tree pastures and fruit tree fields with tall fruit trees ( orchards )
  • Effective protection of the biotope network through comprehensive planning protection
  • Anchoring the goal of protecting biodiversity in the relevant education and training offers of public institutions

Procedure and course

Request

The first procedural step required an application for approval of the referendum, which had to be signed by at least 10,000 supporters. Within the first two and a half weeks after the collection began, 18,000 signatures had already been collected. Between the end of May and the end of July 2019, a total of 35,865 citizens entitled to vote signed the application for approval of the referendum. This means that more than three times the number of votes required by law was achieved.

On July 26, 2019, the initiators of the referendum presented the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior with the application for approval with the signature lists and an elaborated, reasoned draft law .

The Ministry of the Interior approved the application for approval on August 14, 2019. The approval, including the draft law and its reasons, was published in the State Gazette on August 23, 2019.

registration

Within the six-month period prescribed by the Ministry of the Interior, the supporters of the referendum were able to enter their names, addresses and addresses on entry sheets or lists. This could be done as part of the “free” or official collection. With the so-called free collection, there was the possibility of signing up as a supporter from September 24, 2019 to March 23, 2020 in entry sheets, which will be displayed in pedestrian zones or at public events, for example.

The official collection of signatures in registration lists at the municipal administrations lasted from October 18, 2019 to January 17, 2020. In order for the referendum to be successful, the support of ten percent of those eligible to vote (almost 770,000) was necessary. However, on December 18, 2019, all supporting organizations of the referendum called for the referendum not to be signed. Instead, a compromise draft law between the agencies, the state government and agricultural associations is now to come into force (see "Key Issues Paper of the State Government".)

Initiators and sponsors

The referendum was initiated by professional beekeepers David Gerstmeier and Tobias Miltenberger. You are a partner in proBiene , the "Free Institute for Ecological Beekeeping", which was founded in 2016 as a non-profit company with limited liability . Supported the referendum, among other things through the national association of environmental organizations BUND and NABU , the ODP , the organization Slow Food Germany , the farming association Demeter Baden-Wuerttemberg , the Association for Organic Agriculture Nature Land Baden-Wuerttemberg , the Small Farmers' Association of Baden-Wuerttemberg , the social movement Fridays for Future Baden-Wuerttemberg , the Peasant Farmer group Schwäbisch Hall, the Bioproduktanbietern Bodan and Naturata, the GLS Bank and the environment Shipping raccoon .

Species extinction in Baden-Württemberg

In the course of 2019, several studies were published that demonstrate the decline in biodiversity in Baden-Württemberg.

Around 1980, around 465,000 breeding pairs of birds were still living on Lake Constance, in 2012 there were only 345,000 - a loss of 25 percent. This is the result of a study by scientists from the Ornithological Working Group on Lake Constance and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology. Bird species that were once common, such as house sparrows, blackbirds and starlings, have declined particularly sharply. Many other species only occur in small, often no longer viable populations and in fewer and fewer places around Lake Constance. There are also developments like this in the Swabian Alb: around a third of the insect species that existed ten years ago in the Swabian Alb biosphere area have disappeared. Researchers at the University of Ulm and the Technical University of Munich have published corresponding figures. And scientists from Karlsruhe have been analyzing records of butterflies since 1750. In their study, the researchers found that the number of species has remained largely the same - only six out of 163 are actually extinct - but that the frequency has decreased dramatically. This has been the case especially since the 1950s, after the land use was changed after the war. In the past two decades, the process has tightened again.

criticism

In the course of the referendum, numerous associations, companies, parties and also the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann distanced themselves from the initiative. The main point of criticism of the agricultural associations is the one-sided draft bill that is detrimental to the farmers and does not involve private households, home gardeners, consumers and other social groups. Criticism also came from " Farmer Willi " and the " Aktion Grüne Kreuze ".

"Key issues paper" of the state government

In response to the referendum, the Minister for Rural Areas and Consumer Protection Peter Hauk and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Energy, Franz Untersteller, presented a joint key issues paper on the referendum on October 15, 2019 . This should take over the content of the referendum's objectives, but defuse controversial passages. The use of pesticides should only be banned in nature conservation areas, but not in landscape and bird protection areas. In some points, however, the key issues paper also goes beyond the referendum. The state is campaigning for a nationwide ban on synthetic chemical plant protection products in private gardens. In addition, gravel gardens are to be pushed back by municipal ordinances and light pollution in cities is to be reduced to protect insects.

On the basis of this key issues paper, a "round table" made up of representatives of the two ministries, the support group of the referendum and all the agricultural associations active in the state of Baden-Württemberg worked out a specifically formulated draft law between October 16 and December 18. With the exception of the Baden Winegrowers' Association, all actors represented at the "round table" approved this draft law on December 18th. The ministers involved promised to bring this draft law through the state parliament unchanged by the end of spring 2020. In addition, 62 million euros in additional funds have already been made available from the state budget for the next two years for the implementation of the bill.

The sponsoring group of the referendum then decided not to mobilize any more for the referendum. This meant that no relevant group was campaigning for signatures in support of the referendum. However, this could not be ended for legal reasons. Electoral offices were obliged to further verify any support signatures by March 23, 2020.

Content evaluation

The bill was described by most of those involved as a compromise and not an ideal solution. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy on two points, even if, unlike in a similar referendum in Bavaria , the required minimum number of votes was not achieved due to the prematurely terminated mobilization: 1. For the first time, government parties, agriculture and environmental protection associations have agreed on a joint bill in a German parliament ; 2. For the first time, the farmers' association , headed by Joachim Rukwied in Baden-Württemberg as well as in the federal government and in Europe , has approved a general reduction in synthetic chemical pesticides. Baden-Württemberg has thus provided the blueprint for a new model for German agriculture: with fewer chemical-synthetic pesticides and more organic farming.

Change of law

On July 22, 2020, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg approved the draft law to amend the nature conservation law and the agricultural and state culture law. The state government has largely taken over the demands of the initiative and added additional measures for various fields of social life. The main points of the amendments are:

  • Expansion of the share of organic agriculture to 30 to 40 percent by 2030
  • Reduction of chemical-synthetic pesticides by 40 to 50 percent by 2030
  • Implementation of the ban on pesticides in designated nature reserves and compliance with the country-specific requirements of integrated pest management in the other protected areas
  • Establishment of a state-wide biotope network on 15 percent of the state's area by 2030
  • Preservation of orchards
  • Prohibition of gravel gardens on private property
  • Minimizing light pollution
  • Creation of refuge areas on 10 percent of the agricultural land

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Art. 59 and 60 of the state constitution of Baden-Württemberg . In: Constitution of the State of Baden-Württemberg . ( Art. 59 and 60 online ).
  2. ↑ Silvia Rueß: Parliament approves changes to the nature conservation law. In: BW agrar. Organ of the state farmers' association in Baden-Württemberg eV, July 23, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 .
  3. ^ Draft law with justification. (PDF) Retrieved September 15, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Popular initiative "Save the bees" takes the first hurdle. Südwestrundfunk, July 26, 2019, accessed on September 16, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Ministry of the Interior permits referendums on species protection. Ministry of the Interior, Digitization and Migration Baden-Württemberg, August 14, 2019, accessed on September 15, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Referendum on species protection - "Save the bees". Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior, Digitization and Migration, accessed on September 15, 2019 .
  7. ↑ New bee initiatives at federal and EU level. In: Thalackers General Seed and Plant Offer. TASPO, August 29, 2019, accessed on September 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Bird deaths on Lake Constance. Retrieved January 7, 2020 .
  9. ↑ The decline in insects is more extensive than expected. Retrieved January 7, 2020 .
  10. ↑ SWR Aktuell, SWR Aktuell: Researchers warn of the death of butterflies in Baden-Württemberg. Retrieved January 7, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung: State CDU distances itself from 'Save the Bees' , September 27, 2019.
  12. ↑ Badische Zeitung: Kretschmann distances himself ... , October 8, 2019.
  13. ↑ State Farmers Association in Baden-Württemberg e. V .: Referendum "Save the bees" , accessed on October 14, 2019.
  14. ↑ Landesverband Badischer Imker eV: Opinion on the popular initiative for species protection - Save the bees , accessed on October 14, 2019.
  15. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung: Kretschmann attacks the referendum "Save the bees" sharply: "No way!" , October 9, 2019.
  16. ↑ Press release: Key issues paper presented on the referendum. Baden-Württemberg.de, October 15, 2019, accessed on October 18, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bee referendum is on hold. October 16, 2019, accessed October 18, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Benno Stieber: "Save the bees" in Baden-Württemberg: Kretschmann stops referendums . In: The daily newspaper: taz . October 16, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed October 18, 2019]).
  19. ↑ Popular initiative for species protection: Bill to amend the Nature Conservation Act.
  20. ↑ State government triples spending on nature conservation to over 90 million euros. Retrieved January 7, 2020 .
  21. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Tobias Miltenberger. Retrieved January 7, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Strengthening biodiversity - legislative package clears the last hurdle. Baden-Württemberg Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, July 22, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 .