Season’s greetings

from the team of the IOER

Our sincere thanks go to all those who worked with us in 2024 to research key issues and challenges and develop suitable solutions. We would also like to thank all those who have funded and supported our work in various ways.

We wish all a peaceful and relaxing holiday and look forward to continuing our collaboration in 2025!

Our motif: Land Conservation and Biodiversity - Key to Sustainability Transformations

The year 2024 was all about biodiversity, not least in the wake of the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP16) in Colombia at the end of October. We are picking up on this important topic with the motif of our digital greetings at the turn of the year.

We have achieved and published important research results together with partners in networks and collaborations. Some of these show positive developments that need to be strengthened in the coming years and make it possible to derive recommendations for action for politics and society. It is clear that there is potential for transformation to preserve biodiversity. Many successful projects give hope and prove that there is a variety of motivations and stakeholders that promote the conservation of biodiversity. Successful participation also plays an important role. At the same time, however, it is also clear how urgent it is to prioritise the protection of biodiversity – especially in Germany.

Land conservation plays a central role in this context.
The "Faktencheck Artenvielfalt" published in October and co-written by scientists from the IOER, identifies the alarming developments: More than half of the natural habitat types in Germany are in an ecologically unfavourable state, and more valuable habitat areas are disappearing every day. Species populations are shrinking, becoming genetically impoverished or dying out – with a direct impact on the performance and functioning of ecosystems and serious consequences for humans.

An analysis of protected areas in Germany carried out by researchers from the IOER together with colleagues from the HTW Dresden – University of Applied Sciences shows that between 2006 and 2022, the proportion of protected areas in Germany has barely increased. There are even intensively utilised fields in the middle of some nature reserves. Germany is still a long way from achieving the goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and marine areas by 2030, as agreed at the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) two years ago.

The same applies to the goal of minimising land consumption. This is made clear by an IOER analysis of land use for settlement and transportation. It shows that new land take for settlements and transportation infrastructure is falling slightly. However, there is still some way to go to achieve the goal of no net land take by 2050.

The importance of protecting land for biodiversity is also emphasised by the 2024 updated version of the "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Research", which the Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity, of which the IOER is a member, published in March of this year: "The restoration of degraded areas should begin immediately and must be accelerated. Protected areas and their interconnections are the backbone of biodiversity conservation."

We will continue to research these challenges in 2025 in order to drive forward sustainable transformations. We look forward to working together!

The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development is jointly funded by the federal government and the federal states.

FS Sachsen

This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.