German Wilderness gets €10 Mio annual investment

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment announced that it will invest €10 Million every year to the ‘Wildnisfonds’. This German Wilderness Fund is to support especially German based non-governmental organisations to secure large Wilderness areas in Germany. The fund is a reply to the request of the ‘Wildnis in Deutschland’ initiative to halt the loss of nature and species in Germany.

Reaching the 2% target

The German government wants 2% of German land cover designated as Wilderness, where nature develops freely by 2020. However, currently there is only 0.5% in this state. The Wildnisfonds is specifically for nature conservation organisations and other non-governmental organisations. The budget is available to buy land and land rights, which will then be designated to Wilderness.

The ‘Wildnis in Deutschland’ initiative is a consortium of 18 organisations and foundations, that are welcoming the decision of the Federal Ministry. The European Wilderness Society is congratulating the initiative and especially Manual Schweiger from the Zoological Society Frankfurt to reach this milestone, and is looking forward to see great results in the near future.