Berlin, 08.06.2021: Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze presented the first National Water Strategy today. The WWF welcomes the strategy of solving one of the most pressing problems of our time and strengthening the appreciation of water in politics and society as a thematically broad approach. However, so far there has been a lack of ambitions to anchor sustainable water management in funding policy for agriculture and forestry, criticizes the nature conservation organization. Excessive drainage of agricultural land and forests is a major cause of the desiccation of the landscape.
Stephan Zirpel, Head of Nature Conservation Germany at WWF Germany, comments: “Three years of drought in a row have changed the country dramatically: Even in floodplains the groundwater level is sinking threateningly, wetlands and countless small bodies of water in the landscape are drying up, entire populations of amphibians such as frogs and toads are disappearing. That is why it is so important that the water strategy now also takes the retention of water in the landscape into account. This means, for example, adapting trench systems or rewetting wetlands. An intact water balance is the best insurance against future drought damage. The more stable the water balance, the more resilient rivers, lakes and wetlands are in dry periods.
Sustainable water management must urgently be integrated into agriculture and forestry as a cross-cutting issue. At the moment, drainage ditches are withdrawing water from the forest, and there is a lack of healthy soil to store natural water. This is where the next federal government urgently needs to step up: Funding programs such as the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (GAP) or a future federal forest subsidy must support an intact water balance instead of damaging it.
The aim of the water strategy to apply the polluter pays principle more consistently is to be welcomed. In this way, water abstraction charges contribute to a greater appreciation of water. In the future, we need more economic incentives for the careful use of water resources. Using irrigation water at the extra cost or completely free of charge is not compatible with the polluter pays principle. “
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