Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke is planning to improve flood protection in Germany through a new law. In their opinion, the increasing frequency of heavy rain and floods as a result of the climate crisis requires modern heavy rain risk management and restrictive regulations to limit settlement density in at-risk areas.
A new approach to flood protection
Steffi Lemke (The Greens) emphasizes the need for more modern flood protection that responds to the real conditions of the climate crisis and better protects local people. She said in an interview with the “Editorial Network Germany”: “We urgently need better and more modern flood protection that responds to the reality of the climate crisis and the changing conditions – and better protects local people.” Lemke cited the enormous damage to property as well as life and limb that has been caused several times this year by heavy rain and floods.
A new flood protection law
Lemke has presented a draft for a new flood protection law that is intended to help improve citizen protection and prevention. The Germany editorial network reports on this. This article law is intended to change several federal laws, in particular the Water Resources Act. A central point here is limiting the settlement density in particularly vulnerable areas through restrictive regulations.
Heavy rain risk management and litigation
The law provides for the establishment of heavy rain risk management for communities and the establishment of local heavy rain prevention concepts to improve risk prevention and population protection on site. “The damage potential of such events, combined with the knowledge that they are likely to increase in Germany as a result of climate change, requires effective heavy rain risk management to reduce the risk of heavy rain and flash flood-related adverse consequences on human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activities and significant material assets,” says the draft law. In addition, court proceedings regarding plan approval and plan approval procedures for flood protection should be accelerated.
Steffi Lemke is looking forward to good discussions in the cabinet and underlines the urgency of the issue: “The federal government is aware that the urgency and the pressure to act on this issue are great.”
✨ edited by AI, October 14, 2024 00:28.
