The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (german: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz, ), abbreviated BMUV, is a
cabinet-level ministry of the
Federal Republic of Germany. It has branches in
Bonn and
Berlin.
The ministry was established on 6 June 1986 in response to the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
. The
then Federal Government wanted to combine environmental authority under a new minister in order to face new environmental challenges more effectively. Furthermore
The Greens had been formed a few years prior in part as an anti-nuclear
environmentalist party and had achieved federal representation
in 1983 and
Joschka Fischer had been appointed minister of the environment for
Hesse the previous year, marking the first state level
red-green coalition in Germany. Thus the
CDU/CSU intended to project a message of taking the environment seriously in an era in which the Greens were widely perceived as the only party with a policy focus on environmental issues, notwithstanding the fact that CSU-led Bavaria had had a state environment minister since 1971 and the
FDP was the first to pass an environment-related plank in the party platform in 1971. Prior to the establishment of the ministry of the environment, responsibilities for environmental issues were distributed among the ministries of
the Interior
, settlement_type = Region of British Columbia
, image_skyline =
, nickname = "The Interior"
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivi ...
,
Agriculture and
Health.
Functions
The ministry's primary functions include:
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety - primary functions
retrieved 25-May-2012
* Fundamental national environmental policy
Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem mana ...
* Informing and educating the public about environmental issues
* Environmental remediation and development in Eastern Germany
* Climate protection and energy
* Air quality control
* Noise abatement
* Conservation of groundwater, rivers, lakes and seas
* Soil conservation and remediation of contaminated sites
* Waste management and recycling policy
* Chemicals safety, environment and health
* Precautions against emergencies in industrial plants
* Protection, maintenance and sustainable utilization of biodiversity
* Safety of nuclear facilities
* Nuclear supply and disposal
* Radiological protection
Organization
The ministry is led by the Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The current Minister is Svenja Schulze, appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The minister is supported by two parliamentary state secretaries (members of the cabinet and federal government, "deputy ministers") and two career state secretaries (public servants)nuclear safety
Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...
, nuclear supply and radioactive waste
*"WR" directorate (''Abteilung WR''): water management, waste management, soil conservation and contamination
*"IG" directorate (''Abteilung IG''): air pollution, health impacts, environment and traffic, hazardous locations and materials
*"N" directorate (''Abteilung N''): conservation und species richness, genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
, environmental impacts of agriculture and forestry
Federal Environment Ministers
Political Party:
See also
* Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz
* List of German ministers of the environment
* Nuclear phase-out#Germany
* Nuclear power in Germany
* World Nuclear Industry Status Report
References
External links
Official Web site (German)Official Web site (English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Federal Ministry For Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Environment of Germany
Germany, Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Germany, Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Germany, Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Germany, Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
1986 establishments in West Germany
Radiation protection organizations