The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (, BfN) is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government's departmental research agencies and reports to the German Environment Ministry (BMU).
The Agency provides the German Environment Ministry with professional and scientific assistance in all nature conservation and land management issues and in international cooperation activities. BfN furthers its objectives by carrying out related scientific research and is also in charge of a number of funding programmes.
BfN additionally performs important enforcement work under international agreements on species conservation and nature conservation, the Antarctic Treaty, and the German Genetic Engineering Act.
Application areas of BfN
The diversity of species, habitats and landscapes is critical to human survival. Safeguarding this diversity for the long-term future is an increasingly urgent challenge. It requires approaches that integrate the protection, development and sustainable use of our natural resources with a purposeful, consistent course of action. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation plays a key part in incorporating scientific knowledge into policy decisions and applying that knowledge in practice. BfN is involved and has links with numerous activities to conserve biodiversity and natural ecosystems in Germany and internationally.
Nature conservation can only succeed in the long run if it enjoys support across the whole of society. The Agency therefore maintains an ongoing dialogue with policymakers, business, the scientific community, educators and the media, constantly adapting the nature conservation toolkit to societal change.
Advice
Furnishing the science to underpin policy and administrative decisions is one of BfN's central tasks. Doing so requires in-depth knowledge of the complex interrelationships in the natural environment and of the short and long-term effects of human activities on ecosystems. It also calls for a thorough grasp of the available options, implementation choices and social and policy needs so that expertise can be provided at the right place in the right form.
Looking to the future is especially important in this regard, because new issues and challenges emerging all the time require a timely response based on scientifically dependable data and knowledge. Topical examples include climate change – which poses huge problems not just for humanity, but for entire regions and much of life on earth – and the sustainable use of renewable energy.
The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation provides the German government – and first and foremost the German Environment Ministry – with the scientific basis for decisions and advice on all aspects of national and international nature conservation, and identifies new areas where policy choices need to be made. BfN performs a key knowledge transfer function for nature conservation by preparing scientific knowledge and rendering it suitable for practical application. As well as providing support for policy-making at national level, the Agency also works in close cooperation with authorities in each of Germany's sixteen states. One aim here is to ensure that approaches and methods developed by BfN – for example with regard to landscape planning, species conservation and protected areas – are applied uniformly and comparably nationwide.
Internationally, BfN is actively involved in various scientific networks and supports the German government in meeting the country's obligations under related international agreements. These include: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) The Natura 2000 system of protected areas in Europe The UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme
Funding
Ideas and activities to conserve animal and plant species and their habitats and to safeguard the ecosystem services vital for human survival need a sound scientific basis. They must be feasible, tested in practice and continuously refined in light of emerging challenges. Valuable natural and cultural landscapes must also be preserved for the future. BfN plans, funds and supports various forms of projects for these purposes large-scale conservation projects, research projects and pilot projects.