Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Waste | Resources

5-point programme
for sustainable plant protection

In recent decades, with EU and national subsidies for farming in Germany, the conventional cultivation of crops has established itself as the basis of an increasingly intensified agriculture and food production. For many crops, a key requirement for this form of production is the intensive application of chemical plant protection products, on which the system is now practically dependent. This is...read more

Chemicals

Investigations on the presence and behavior of precursors to perfluoroalkyl substances in the environment as a preparation of regulatory measures

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as a significant pathway for the introduction of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) to natural waters. It was observed in several studies that the concentration of certain PFASs were higher in the WWTP effluent compared to the corresponding influent. The objective of the present study was the identification of potential pr...read more

Health

Human Biomonitoring of „new“ contaminants: Sub- Project 2 – Screening of target and non-target contaminants in human blood and urine

The development of screening methods has increased over the last years due to the possibility to search for multiple targets and suspected and so far unknown compounds. Non-target screening has mostly been restricted to water and food samples, only a few studies have shown an application to biological samples. Thus the objective of this project was to develop and apply a non-target screening metho...read more

Climate | Energy

Submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2015

National Inventory Report for the German Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 - 2013

As a Party to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), since 1994 Germany has been obliged to prepare, publish and regularly update national emission inventories of greenhouse gases. In February 2005, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force. As a result, for the first time ever the international community of nations is required to implement binding action objectives and instruments f...read more

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Analysis and Enhancement of the Legal Framework – The Need for Action in the Light of Current Developments of Antarctic Tourism

The present study analyzes the legal framework of Antarctic tourism in the light of its factual development. The first part defines Antarctic tourism and identifies the objectives of the Antarctic Treaty system that are relevant for Antarctic tourism.read more

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Collection and Analysis of Data on Occurrence, Distribution and Abundance of Cetaceans in the Southern Ocean Following International Standards

Multiple methods to observe cetaceans in Antarctic waters were concurrently conducted during two expeditions of RV Polarstern in the Antarctic summers of 2008/9 (ANT25-2) and 2010/11 (ANT27-2). The Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) conducted aerial (helicopter) as well as ship-board (crow's nest) distance sampling Surveys and a Tracking study. Concurrently, the Alfred-...read more

Climate | Energy

Dynamics of landfast sea ice of Atka Bay, Antarctica

Emperor penguins breed solely on the landfast sea ice of the Antarctic. Due to climate change the sea ice undergoes major changes in some regions of Antarctica. To assess a possible endangerment of an emperor penguin colony in Atka Bay (East Antarctica) the changes of the local extent of sea ice have been analyzed in this study for the period of the last 15 years by help of satellite images. No ev...read more

Waste | Resources, Soil | Land

Compost Manual

Correct Composting - Tips and Tricks

One of the environmental challenges we are facing today is the closing of materials loop in a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly way. This also applies to organic waste stream. Meanwhile, legislators are not just leaving it all up to the commitment of amateur gardeners to recycle organic waste. The great majority of organic waste from private households will be collected separately an...read more