Environmental protection means all measurements serving the preservation of the natural foundations of humanity. Since the state as well as its inhabitants must have a basic interest in this, environmental protection is the duty of both. The state has to enforce the common interest in environmental protection in cooperation with the citizens, but also must regulate the behavior towards the environment using state power. According to the principle of the welfare state the state's task is to guarantee an 'ecological subsistence level'. It also has the duty to preserve the 'environmental generational contract'. This includes all measures of environmental precautions, redevelopment, maintenance and development.
The goals of environmental protection include all the goals of the relevant decision- and policy makers, which are aligned to protect nature from harmful influences. The goals can be divided by objects of protection (i.e. species, soil, nature etc.) or by the kind of environmental pollution (i.e. noise, radiation etc.).
Early developments in environmental protection in Germany can be traced back to the 13th century, when the first decrees concerning health and cleanliness were enacted. The image [1] shows that modern environmentalism began only in the seventies of the 20th century. The Federal Environmental Agency was founded in 1974, the German Federal Environment Ministry even later in 1986. Important impulses were started by the Anti-Atom-Movement and the Green Party [2], which managed to make environmentalism a public point of discussion. Also an increasing number of private organizations was founded, who made the protection of the environment their goal. As examples shall be mentioned the foundations of Greenpeace [3] in 1971 and BUND [4] in 1975.
Since its origins in the seventies German environmental policy follows three basic principles: the precaution principle, the polluter pays principle, and the cooperation principle. The precaution principle, beyond a general danger protection, obligates to a reduction of potential risks for human beings, nature, and environment, following the progress of scientifical and technical developments. Internationalization of ecological costs of products, commerce, and waste disposal is the significant feature of the 'polluter pays principle' as economical efficiency criteria. The usage of nature and the environment must increasingly appear in the costs and in the market prices. Due to the cooperation principle, the participation of the affected people, the economy, and the different social groups and individuals in the formulation and realization of the goals and measures of a policy of sustainability must be achieved.
Central point in the change of our production- and usage patterns is the farewell to the throwaway society. With the implementation of the Waste Avoidance and Waste Management Act Germany paved the way for recycling. With that, environmentalism is for the first time so integrated in the different layers of the economic system, that it becomes a central point in all economic actions and decisions. This new product responsibility is essential for a sustainable development, and therefore is strived for by the fifth program of the EU.
The goals of a sustainable development - lasting preservation of nature, economical development and preservation of the basical living conditions of all parts of the population - are widely accepted among all social groups. Due to the permanent tension between ecology, economic and social structures and interests, however, it is still difficult to formulate these goals in a to all sides acceptable way.
Seeing these tensions, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where among other things the Agenda 21 [5] was formulated, rose the demand to formulate a local Agenda 21 for regional areas in order to make the identification and goals of a sustainable development possible. On a regional and decentralized level, a local Agenda 21 [6] can be linked with the environmental management of the communes and the local businesses. Environmental management means to reduce costs as well as pollution, and at the same time form a dialogue with the public about actual and forthcoming activities to protect the environment. Basis and standardization for environmental management systems provide the Eco-Audit Law [7] from 1995 and the 'Directive on the voluntary participation of commercial companies in a system for environmental management and company inspection' (Environmental Audit Directive) [8] of the European Union from 1993. With the help of international guidelines like the ISO 14000, environmental management systems can be compared and analyzed in different areas in terms of their success.
Since November 1994 environmental protection is embodied in the German constitution as an objective of the state (article 20a). All organs of the state are therefore responsible for the protection of the environment, especially with regard to later generations. Individual activities to preserve the environment are carried out on federal level as well as on state and local levels. The site Umwelt-Deutschland [9] shows the complexity of these structures. The most important authority is the German Federal Environment Ministry [10], part of which are the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Germany [11], the Federal Environmental Agency [12] and the Federal Radiation Protection Agency [13]. These agencies have different tasks within the framework of environmentalism.
Environmental legislation can be defined as the legislation necessary for the solving of the conflicts that occur during the preservation of the natural recourses of humanity. There is no clear area of legislation; the protection of the environment is rather a part of many different laws. Nevertheless, environmental legislation may be subdivided systematically into different parts: area of law, the kind and rank of the sources of law, area-overlapping problems, and objects of protection (public law, environmental private law, environmental criminal law). The Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environmental Agency are currently working on an environmental statute book [14] which is supposed to serve as a standardized basis for environmental law. This work, however, has not yet been finished. Environmental law is based on national as well as international law. International law in this case consists of the legislation passed by the European Union and the general law of nations.
The protection of nature and the environment has found legislative expression in the particular environmental administrative law, which had consisted of a collection of single laws. This administrative law can be divided into different categories that include the most important regulations.
Following the requirements of environmental law, a number of categories of nature reservation have been defined. Areas of natural reservation are an important instrument to reach the goals of environmentalism. To be effective, there must be the development of possibly coordinated systems of reservations. In 1969, the international union of nature preservation named ten different categories and set a standard for their international acknowledgement. If a given area becomes preserved, depends on the actual condition of the area, ignoring laws of the state in which the area is. Legal basis for preservation areas in Germany are the Federal Nature Conservation Act (articles 12-19) and the State Conservation Acts. According to these laws there are the following categories of preservation, in which protection, cultivation, and development of some part of nature and the landscape occurs: nature reserve (Naturschutzgebiet as well as Landschaftsschutzgebiet), national park, wildlife park, natural monument, protected part of landscape, biosphere reserve, and water protection areas.
Apart from the federal agencies, there are numerous private organizations which are devoted to environmentalism. Their goal is to make environmentalism and the abuse of nature a public topic. They try to reach this goal with partly very spectacular activities. Active participation of the citizens is more possible in these organizations as in the federal agencies. Even children who want to be active in or inform themselves about environmentalism, can do so, for instance on the homepage of Emil Grünbär [15].
Effective environmental policy can only be realized internationally, for environmental problems know no boundaries. The European Union with its economic power and political network provides a crucial network to serve as an example for the integration of ecology and economics. Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, held in 1992 under the auspices of the United Nations, the efforts of governments, NGO's, and the industry to reach sustainable development have substantially increased.
The European Union describes its environmental goals in action programs which run several years. The first action program was passed in 1973. The next programs followed in 1977, 1982, and 1987. The current fifth program was passed in 1993 and lays emphasis on the industry, energy, traffic, agriculture, and tourism.
Germany's current environmental policy has to be seen in the context of the fifth action program, too. The goals are to fulfill this program by the usage of economic instruments, to set the course for a 'European Environmental Union' in the sense of a 'sustainable Europe', and to contribute solutions to global environmental problems. Apart from that, Germany supports the intensified consideration of environmental aspects in other fields of policy, for instance in traffic policy, development policy, of energy policy. Currently, there are the following aspects in the fore: protection of the climate, traffic, waste management, safety of chemicals, water protection, and the preservation of the ozone layer.
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