In its final session before the summer recess, the upper house of parliament signed off on reforms to Germany’s climate protection law to bring the nation’s target date for reaching carbon neutrality forward by five years, to 2045. The changes were forced by a groundbreaking ruling by Germany’s Constitutional Court in April that the 2019 climate law was “insufficient” and placed an unfair burden on younger generations to tackle global warming. The “insect protection” law also approved on Friday has likewise been contentious, driving a wedge between different ministries and pittingenvironmentalists against farmers who say the new rules threaten their livelihoods. READ ALSO: ‘No food, no future’: German farmers protest against insect protection plansA 2017 study in Germany was one of the first to raise global alarm about the loss of insects. It found that the biomass of flying insects across German nature reserves had declined by more than 75 percent in 27 years, triggering warnings of an “ecological apocalypse”.

Source: The Local June 25, 2021 13:41 UTC