Press | Umweltbundesamt

The bathing waters in Germany were monitored for the first time during the 2008 bathing season according to the new EC Bathing Water Directive. The new directive requires Member States to switch from passive monitoring of bathing areas to active management and thereby ensure better protection of bathers. Furthermore, the new directive promotes comprehensive information and involvement of the publi... read more

Import levels of waste subject to authorisation broke a record high of 6.9 million tonnes (mn t) in 2008. On the other hand exports declined to 1.6 mn t. The greatest volumes of waste imports consisted of treated wood and contaminated soils (1.1 mn t each); in exports, the largest proportion consisted of 500,000 t of residual waste from sorting facilities. Wastes subject to authorisation are prima... read more

Global warming is changing our oceans. Polar bears who can no longer hunt on isolated icepacks are but one sad consequence that global warming might have on the complex interdependencies that exist in marine ecosystems. Oceans are warming up, with the measuring site at Helgoland Reede registering a 1.5 °C increase in water temperature since recording began in 1962. The mean sea level worldwide is... read more

The Federal Ministry for Environment has expanded its free service for teachers: new educational materials on the environment and health are now available on the Internet. The materials, developed with the cooperation of the German Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), are intended for use at primary schools. read more

APIS REGINA - Bienenarbeiten (bees’ work) is the name of a new exhibition opening on 11 June 2009 at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau-Roßlau. The Berlin artist Bärbel Rothhaar, who has devoted her art to bees for about ten years, sees her work as a kind of dialogue between man and nature. read more

”UBA is on the move” is the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) motto as it celebrates a sports and health day on 3 June. A national campaign to promote cycling to work was also launched on 1 June by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC) and Germany’s largest state health insurance scheme, Allgemeine Ortskrankenkassen (AOK), which the UBA is also supporting. Cycling plays a key role for the A... read more

Up-to-date, quick and reliable information on chemical substances and their environmental impact is important for the sake of environmental protection and when fire departments and the police must avert danger. A database on substances jointly operated by the Germany’s federal government and the Laender Gemeinsamen Stoffdatenpool Bund/Länder, or GSBL, has been in place since 1995. With immediate e... read more

What progress is being made in Germany in the area of environmental protection? The now updated Environmental Key Indicator System (German: KIS) of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has the answers. More than 50 indicators describe the state of the environment and point to the successes of environmental policy as well as to areas where there is more to be done. Germany got high marks in 2008 fo... read more