One of the most valuable environmental prizes in Europe, the German Environmental Prize, goes this year to ecologist and biodiversity researcher Katrin Böhning-Gaese and to moor researcher Hans Joosten. Both have achieved outstanding achievements in their scientific disciplines for more species, climate and environmental protection, according to the German Federal Environment Foundation, which awards the award, which is endowed with 500,000 euros.
The German Environmental Prize of 500,000 euros is one of the most highly endowed environmental prizes in Europe. By awarding this award, the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt honors efforts and achievements that have made a decisive and exemplary contribution to the protection and preservation of our environment or that will contribute significantly to environmental relief in the future. This year, the German Environment Prize goes to two researchers who have each achieved something outstanding in their field for more species, climate and environmental protection.
The award goes to the ecologist and biodiversity researcher Katrin Böhning-Gaese from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt for her cutting-edge research on the importance of biological diversity for planet and man and the moor researcher and landscape ecologist Hans Joosten from the University of Greifswald. “The German Environment Prize 2021 should be a signal: We only have one earth. And we have to be careful with the diversity of life, ”said DBU General Secretary Alexander Bonde. “The two award winners have made an outstanding contribution to this.” The German Environment Prize of the DBU will be presented on October 10 in Darmstadt by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Böhning-Gaese: Consequences of climate and land use change
The biodiversity researcher Katrin Böhning-Gaese, director of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, has earned an internationally outstanding scientific reputation, especially in the field of macroecology: Using the methods of this modern research area, she analyzes ecological relationships locally, regionally, continentally and globally as well as in different time scales . The researcher investigates the complex consequences of climate and land use change for biodiversity and communities of animals and plants and strives to predict environmental changes in ecosystems in the coming decades as precisely as possible – and thus possible consequences for humans.
“Only if we recognize and understand the processes can we take targeted measures to stop them,” says DBU General Secretary Bonde. The professor played a key role in laying the foundations for the recommendations of the Agriculture Commission for the Future of Agriculture in Germany. Ecologist Böhning-Gaese has made “an enormous scientific contribution to understanding the dramatic consequences of the loss of species for humans and the entire interaction of the planet,” says Bonde. “This makes it clear to all of us that we must courageously tackle the fight against species decline as a major societal challenge.”
Joosten: Moors as climate protectors
Similar groundbreaking findings are thanks to the peat researcher Hans Joosten. He has been researching at the Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology at the University of Greifswald since 1996. In more than 600 scientific publications as well as on many research trips to the moor areas of the world – from Alaska to North Korea – he has repeatedly pointed out the complex relationships in the moor habitat and made new discoveries – for example the unique so-called rain-flow moor in Georgia, which is now recognized as a world natural heritage . Joosten also coined the term “paludiculture”, “the environmentally friendly use of moors and thus the restoration of this habitat, which is so important for climate protection,” says Bonde.
“With tireless commitment, Joosten raised awareness that peatlands are indispensable allies in overcoming the climate crisis,” said the DBU General Secretary. “Like no other, he stands for the fact that we need the moors as a landscape type and climate protector – and therefore have to protect them from drainage.” Around a fifth of the moors around the world are already drained, in Germany almost 95 percent. Because drained peatlands increasingly emit greenhouse gases, this has corresponding consequences for the climate. Rewetting and restoration of habitats are therefore the order of the day and a crucial key to naturally binding carbon dioxide (CO2), emphasizes Bonde.
Source: German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU)