Nature and landscape; application for intervention

Many measures are associated with interventions in nature and the landscape. If these measures require official approval or notification, their permissibility must be checked as part of the impact regulation.

If the measure does not require official approval or notification, it may be prohibited if significant impairments to nature and the landscape cannot be compensated for and the interests of nature conservation and landscape management take precedence when weighing up all the requirements of nature and the landscape.

Interventions in nature and landscape are changes to the shape or use of land or changes to the groundwater level associated with the living soil layer that can significantly impair the performance of the ecosystem or the landscape. As a rule, proper agricultural, forestry and fishing land use does not constitute an encroachment.

The person causing an encroachment is obliged to refrain from avoidable impairments of nature and landscape and to compensate or replace unavoidable impairments through nature conservation and landscape management measures.

Impairments are also avoidable if the objective pursued with the intervention can be achieved in other reasonable ways that are more gentle on nature and the environment.

The intervention may not be permitted or carried out if the impairment cannot be avoided or cannot be compensated for to the required extent within a reasonable period of time and the interests of nature conservation and landscape management take precedence when weighing up all the requirements of nature and the landscape. If the intervention cannot be compensated for and nature conservation concerns do not take precedence, a compensation payment must be made.

Even in the case of interventions that do not require official approval or notification to an authority, in certain cases the restoration of the original state or the implementation of compensation measures may be required or the intervention may be prohibited.

As a rule, the notification or application for approval of the project must be submitted to the locally responsible district office or municipality. Depending on the procedure or project, a higher administrative authority - such as the government - may also be the approval authority.

Administrative court action