Lawsuit against pesticide use: Moselle Apollo is threatened!

Lawsuit against pesticide use: Moselle Apollo is threatened!

In a dramatic step against the air sprays of pesticides in Rhineland-Palatinate, the German Environmental Aid (DUH) and the Working Group Rheinisch-Westfälische Lepidopterologist (ARWL) filed a lawsuit before the Koblenz Administrative Court. This complaint aims to tip the exceptional permits for helicopter and drone injections, which are considered the cause of the drastic decline in the endangered Moselle Apollo. The butterfly in question lives exclusively in the lower Moselle valley, while populations of other apollofalter species that exist in pesticide -free zones remain stable. As the DUH makes it clear, the use of pesticide is held responsible as a significant factor for the decline not only of the Moselle Apollofalter, but also for other endangered insect species. Jürgen Resch, Federal Managing Director of the DUH, described the repeated granting of exceptional permits as a "scandal" and calls for an immediate end of these practices that have been fundamentally banned since 2011.

complex clashes and resistance

The lawsuit follows a long argument, which lasted several years and contained multi -layered discussions between conservationists, winegrowers and authorities. The ARWL, which campaigns for the preservation of the Moselle Apollo, has intensively appealed to the Federal Environment Agency and other ministries to restrict or abolish the helicopter sprays. The sprays take place every 8 to 10 days during the growing season between May and August and use numerous chemicals, including harmful per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAs), which are hardly degradable in nature and are considered "eternity chemicals". Despite the recommendations of the Federal Environment Agency, these practices may continue to be carried out, which according to Tim Laußmann, the chairman of the ARWL, represents a failure in official environmental protection.

The opposition to the air sprays is strong in the region, and the lawsuit should not only preserve the Moselle Apollo from extinction, but also ensure that the use of pesticide is justified and transparent. Both the DUH and the ARWL hope to hope for a binding regulation, which enables future environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches in crop protection for the wine -growing regions on the Moselle. However, the way to defend biodiversity and to secure the future of the Moselle Apollo is long and continues to require a lot of commitment and support from the public, according to the two organizations.

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OrtKoblenz, Deutschland
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