Further developing protected areas: increasing resilience and strengthening natural climate protection

The project “Further Developing Protected Areas” supports the planned Action Plan for Protected Areas by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Consumer Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), which focuses on the further development of existing protected areas (including management quality, connectivity, natural climate protection, restoration and public acceptance). A key problem here is that protected area management bodies have not always been able to utilise federal funding programmes quickly and effectively – partly due to heterogeneous guidelines and legal frameworks.

Work Package 2 therefore examines which federal funding programmes (including ANK, the National Species Conservation Programme, Biological Diversity, Blue Ribbon, E+E, Chance. Nature, Wilderness Fund) offer which options for protected areas, how they can be improved or better coordinated, and how the funding landscape as a whole could be improved. Based on a survey and expert interviews, the NNL derives proposals for improvement and perspectives for adjustments to the aforementioned federal funding programmes and for a more efficient federal funding landscape; these are examined for legal feasibility within the scope of the subcontract. In doing so, relevant requirements (including nature conservation and environmental protection law, funding guidelines, procurement, state aid and federal budget law) are taken into account, legal obstacles are identified and concrete proposals for adjustments are developed; the results are reflected upon and refined in practical formats organised by the NNL.