The project aims to promote and preserve amphibian species in pits and quarries, combining economic and conservation interests. It can serve as a model for other industries and countries. During the award ceremony on October 10^th in Ingolstadt, Bavaria’s Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber said: “The project is a prime example of successful cooperation between nature conservation and mining operations. It demonstrates that much can be achieved together in protecting nature and biodiversity. In this strong alliance for biodiversity, economics and ecology are exemplarily united. My congratulations go to the project participants for their creative efforts.”

The Bavarian Nature Conservation Fund ensured that the necessary financial resources for implementation – totaling approximately €320,000 – were made available. However, the companies involved do not rely on external funds for the establishment and maintenance of the biotopes. Dr. Norbert Schäffer, Chairman of the LBV, emphasized: “The mutual trust that has developed over the past nine years between nature conservation and industry cannot be planned on a drawing board. It is the result of honest and cooperative collaboration. This very foundation makes ‘Nature on Time’ so successful – and ultimately leads to active species conservation.”

Resource extraction contributes to the preservation of many threatened plant and animal species through the natural conditions of its mining areas, even during ongoing operations. The mining sites provide critical substitute habitats for many endangered amphibian species, as they often replace natural wild river floodplains, which have largely disappeared in today’s human-shaped cultural landscapes. Additionally, the raw soils predominant in mining areas are the preferred habitat of many rare plant, bird, reptile, and insect species. While these habitats can be easily created, bureaucracy often complicates their implementation. Nevertheless, legal certainty remains an essential foundation for collaboration between nature conservation and the resource industry.

The LBV considers it a significant success that the conservation regulations contractually secured for resource extraction sites within the framework of the “Nature on Time” project in Bavaria have been incorporated into the Federal Nature Conservation Act.

More information about the ‘Nature on Time’ project is available at www.natur-auf-zeit.de