Project Support
Measures devised and designed to conserve wild animal and plant species and their habitats all need to be tested in practice.
To that end, BfN supports and coordinates large-scale conservation projects as well as research and pilot projects. All of these are carried out in collaboration with external partners. Close contacts maintained with stakeholders and institutions at regional and local levels, and collaboration with project partners in associations, universities and planning consultancies ensures that projects reflect the specific interests of people on site.
Large-scale conservation projects are concerned with the broad-scale preservation of our natural heritage. Site selection is guided by clear criteria: A low degree of human-induced landscape modification, a high degree of nationallevel relevance, the extent of spatial coverage, the level of threat and, finally, the model character of measures undertaken.
Support primarily involves the purchase or long-term lease of sites, compensatory payments for conservation-related restrictions, and measures to manage and develop sites.
Within the context of the German Environment Ministry’s Environmental Research Plan, research and development (R+D) projects are commissioned in the fields of nature conservation and ecology. The purpose of these projects is to produce the fundamentals for decisionmaking by the federal government in the realms of nature conservation and environmental policy.
Testing and development projects aim to realize promising conservation ideas and implement important research findings in practice. An aspect of particular importance in these projects is the integration of conservation and use in agricultural and forestry areas, and in waters (including seas and coastal areas), mires and wetlands.
By supporting associations, the Agency promotes individual conservation projects carried out by private-sector, non-profit associations. Support is also provided for nature conservation measures focussing on international cooperation.
All support programmes require a financial contribution on the part of the applicant.
