Species Protection as a Production Goal
The insect die-off has made it onto the political agenda! «Butterflies, Wild Bees & Co. — Causes of Their Decline and Prospects for Their Protection» was the theme of the Parliamentary Evening held in Berlin.
The insect die-off has made it onto the political agenda! «Butterflies, Wild Bees & Co. – Causes of Their Decline and Prospects for Their Protection» was the theme of the Parliamentary Evening held in Berlin.
Species Protection Must Become a Production Goal
In his presentation, Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, sole board member of the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung, emphasised the key role of agricultural policy. «We must finally move away from blanket subsidies. Species protection must become a production goal that is rewarded for farmers through agricultural policy,» was one of his demands. He continued: «The word biogas is a terrible cover-up: there is truly nothing ‘bio’ about biogas!» For the chairman of the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung, the agricultural policy course must now be set for the funding period from 2021 onwards.
Decline of Butterflies Is Dramatic
It goes without saying that a decline in insects has far-reaching consequences for their role in the entire ecosystem. Insects pollinate plants and are an important food source for birds and mammals. The Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung commissioned a study from Prof. Reichholf on the decline of butterflies. The situation of butterflies has been documented as alarming over longer time series. More than 50% of day-flying butterfly species are now on the Red List. Reichholf was able to document the decline in both species and total butterfly numbers using the example of a Bavarian study region since the 1980s. Particularly striking: while changes in forests and urban areas are minor, the decline of butterflies in open farmland is dramatic.
Agriculture as the Key Factor
It is undisputed that agriculture plays a key role. Almost 50% of arable land is now cultivated with just two crops: winter wheat and maize, compared to 36% in the year 2000. Maize plays a dominant role in arable farming. Its share rose dramatically with the biogas boom. Over 1 million hectares of maize now goes into biogas plants. This subsidy must be ended.
The lever for making agriculture more insect-friendly is EU agricultural policy. 5% ecological priority areas are currently mandatory in arable farming. However, through targeted lobbying by the farmers' association, cover crops and legumes were also approved as ecological priority areas. As a result, the concept of ecological priority areas has come to nothing. Only around 200’000 ha — barely 1.5% of the total area — are genuinely ecological areas.
But the loss of grassland also takes its toll. 600’000 ha of grassland have been lost since 1990. And through intensive use, a decline in grass diversity has set in. Germany is drowning in nitrogen — not the kind from exhaust fumes, which is declining significantly. Over-fertilisation still leads to a nitrogen surplus of around 90 kg/ha.
Wild bees need protection
Agricultural policy must finally move away from blanket subsidies. Incentives for socially demanded services rather than subsidies for agriculture that is questionable from an environmental perspective. The course must now be set in agricultural policy for the funding period from 2021 onwards.
The emphasis here is on WILD bees, because they are the ones at risk — not the honeybee! The honeybee is a domestic animal kept by humans and can even become a competitor to its wild relatives.
We need more wildlife-friendly farming, we need more diversity in our landscapes through hedgerows, field margins, ponds and copses, we must preserve special biotopes such as heathlands, dry grasslands and wet meadows, and we need more natural heritage areas and thus more wilderness — all of this is what we need to give the fascinating and vitally important world of insects a future.
More on biodiversity and on environment and nature conservation.
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The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
