BD-R-3: Protected areas | Umweltbundesamt

BD-R-3: Protected areas

Nature reserves and national parks are specially protected areas which provide refuges in which adverse impacts on animals and plants can be avoided or moderated. In these circumstances, protected areas create favourable prerequisites for the conservation of species and habitats particularly at risk from climate change. The steady increase in the number of these protected areas must be regarded as positive.

Terrain of strictly protected areas still slightly increasing

Animals and plants in the wild, as well as their habitats, are exposed to varied influences in German landscapes characterised almost contiguously by anthropogenic use. Apart from the adverse effects of progressive intensification of land use, climate change in many cases causes additional stresses. Given these circumstances, the creation of refuges for the protection of valuable areas of nature conservation is gaining increasing importance for the continued existence of native and, in many cases, endangered animal and plant populations (cf. Indicator RO-R-1). Apart from the size and quality of protected areas, the spatial distribution and networking of these areas also play an important role in these times of climate change.

There are strict protection regimes in force in nature reserves and national parks in order to enable the conservation and development of rare and endangered species and biotopes. In national parks it is their large scale which plays a very special role. The majority of the expanse of a national park is supposed to be dedicated to safeguarding the ability of natural processes to take place with as little disturbance as possible. The indicator reflects the overall terrain of these protected areas in Germany. The outcome of this calculation is based on the percentage of land in nature reserves and national parks as a proportion of Germany’s overall terrain. Natura 2000 areas as well as core and buffer zones of biosphere reserves are included, provided they have been designated as nature reserves or national parks. In terms of statistics, the overall terrain of these protected areas has increased from 1,129,225 ha in 2000 to 1,632,691 ha in 2020. With reference to the overall terrain of Germany, this represents an increase from 3.2 % in 2000 to 4.6 % of the terrain by 2020.

The increase in the total terrain of these protected areas had been achieved partly by the implementation in the past of the Natura 2000 network. It is expected that in Germany in future, the amount of new designations of protected areas in terms of Natura 2000 areas for the purpose of their legal protection, will probably increase in manageable proportions. This is mainly because most of the Natura 2000 areas have already been placed under legal protection, and the Länder tend to choose, apart from nature reserves or national parks, other forms of protection.

While the terrain of nature reserves increased steadily between 2000 and 2014 and has been on the increase again since 2018, the terrain of national parks increased only between 2003 and 2004, as a result of the foundation of the Eifel National Park in North-Rhine Westphalia, the Kellerwald Edersee in Hesse, as well as the creation of the Black Forest National Park in Baden-Württemberg in 2014 and Hunsrück-Hochwald in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland in 2015.

The increase in the cumulative terrain of these protected areas must be regarded as positive, especially in view of the new challenges arising from climate change and its impacts on species and biotopes. The formal designation of a protected area, however, although important, is but a first step on the journey towards the adaptation of the protected area system to the challenges associated with climate change. Habitats particularly at risk from climate change such as wetlands or mountain ranges are part of the group of highly valuable nature conservation areas. This is why the aspirations to protect those areas harmonise well with the objectives of adaptation to climate change.

The designation of suitable areas in sufficient proportions has to be combined with an effective management of these areas in order to comply with the declared objectives of nature conservation. The regulations governing individual protected areas can vary a lot and the number of all protected areas in Germany is substantial. To date, it has therefore been impossible to make any comprehensive statements on the quality of the areas concerned and their management. Besides, it is not clear either to what extent some aspects of adaptation to climate change are being taken into account already in the management of protected areas. Potentially, there are even now dynamic developments taking place with regard to climate change which will make it necessary in future to adapt the objectives pursued as well as the management carried out in protected areas.

It is also intended that nature reserves and national parks safeguard parts of the transnational biotope network and that they expand this network, as required by the German Federal Act on Natural Conservation. Adequate connectivity within the biotope network will enable the genetic exchanges among populations. This, in turn, is an indispensable prerequisite for the conservation of species. This is why, in view of climate change, the biotope network is becoming ever more important, in order to improve the migration and distribution opportunities among various occurrences of animal and plant species over a wide area. Both the expansion of the overall terrain of protected areas and of the biotope network make essential contributions to the nationwide endeavour to reconnect habitats, thus supporting the objective of adapting to climate change. All the same, indicators do not help with inferring any statements on whether the specific challenges arising from climate change are given sufficient consideration in current planning and implementation efforts regarding the biotope network.