Günther takes stock of the state's riparian forest projects

Shortly before the end of his term of office, Saxony's Environment Minister Wolfram Günther (Greens) presented the completed measures for the revitalization of Leipzig's alluvial forest. "In the period of government that has come to an end, we have taken decisive action to save the alluvial forest," said Günther in Leipzig. Thanks to the increased water supply, the approximately 5,700-hectare Leipzig alluvial forest, which was severely endangered, now has prospects again.

Nature conservation as a national task

Since 2020, work has been underway to preserve Leipzig's alluvial forest as a valuable ecosystem, explained Günther. An important milestone has been reached with the floodplain development concept for the north-west floodplain.

In addition, measures such as floodplains have proven to be cost-effective, quick to implement and very effective. Saving the floodplain forest is a national task, which is why the federal government was also involved. Nevertheless, much remains to be done. "My expectation of the future state government is that it will continue to resolutely support this approach and the planned large-scale Leipzig floodplain forest nature conservation project."

The head of the Leipzig Office for Urban Greenery and Water, Rüdiger Dittmar, also hopes that the successful cooperation with the new state government will continue. "We are currently working on a floodplain development concept for the entire floodplain landscape in the Leipzig city area and have applied for a large-scale nature conservation project together with Schkeuditz." The aim of the project is to sustainably protect and preserve the valuable ecosystem.

Intact floodplain landscape for natural flood protection

The measures in the north-west floodplain help to improve or restore the ecological functions of the floodplain. They create habitats for endangered animal and plant species and strengthen the resilience of the floodplain landscape to the effects of climate change. At the same time, the projects serve as natural flood protection.

In the long term, a master plan is to be developed for the area, which is unique in Europe. This aims to revitalize a continuous floodplain landscape along a 40-kilometre stretch from Elstertrebnitz in the south to Schkeuditz in the north.