Press | Umweltbundesamt

As of the 2008 bathing season, Germany’s bathing waters will be monitored according to the new EC Bathing Water Directive.  The new directive requires Member States to rethink any passive forms of monitoring to active management for the sake of better protection of bathers. Thus, a so-called bathing water profile must be established for each body of bathing water which enumerates, among other thin... read more

The reproductive organs of female eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) in the North and Baltic Seas have been damaged, according to tests conducted for the Federal Environmental Specimen Bank (German: UPB) by the Institute for Applied Ecology (IFAE–) on the reproductive organs (gonads) of these seafish.  The UPB has been collecting thousands of environmental and human samples every year since 1985.  The sa... read more

Mankind has glorified nature since the beginning of time but has also stretched the limits of its capacities at the same time. Construction of human settlements, new industrial parks and roads are often more important to us than intact natural habitats.  The „Uno Due Tree” exhibition at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau-Roßlau picks up on the subject of the discord between civilisati... read more

Nearly 113 hectares of land are consumed daily for new developments in Germany-whether for homes, commercial space, rest and recreation, or transport. That is equivalent to almost 160 football pitches per day-despite the fact that the population in Germany continues to decline and there are developed areas no longer in use whose size is as large as the area of Lake Constance (ca.180,000 hectares).... read more

Just in time to celebrate the eco-label’s 30th anniversary is a relaunch of environmentally friendly car tyres bearing the Blue Angel.  Less noise and reduced rolling resistance at same safety standard are the requirements to be met by passenger car tyres that are awarded the Blue Angel. The OPTIMO 4S series by the Hankook company has received this award. ”I hope that other tyre manufacturers will... read more

In the run-up to the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in Bonn from 19th to 30th May 2008, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is making its contribution to the preservation of biodiversity by means of a project in the central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan. In a joint endeavour there with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservati... read more

Every kilowatt hour of power consumed in Germany during 2006 produced an average 596 grammes of carbon dioxide, which is 20 grammes less than in 2005. The lower carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour are mainly due to the increasing share of power produced from regenerative sources. However, preliminary calculations for 2007 done by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) indicate the emission fa... read more

On 24 April, now also known as Girls’ Day, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is extending an invitation to girls in particular to get information on interesting careers in the environmental field.  Agency staff present the office building in Dessau-Roßlau in terms of its construction and engineering, do experiments with them on the effects of noise and noise abatement, talk about how environme... read more