ARD participation campaign #ours: Results & participation from May 12, 2024 | ARD

ARD participation campaign #ours: Results & participation from May 12, 2024 | ARD

From May 12, 2024, the ARD participation campaign #ours runs, which serves to check the condition of the German streams. According to the Federal Environment Agency, only 8 percent of German rivers are ecologically healthy. So far, the water quality of the large rivers such as the Rhine, Elbe and Danube has been checked. The small streams and rivers, which make up about 70 percent of our river waters, have so far been neglected. However, the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research has examined 137 streams and found that 60 percent of them are burdened by pesticides.

Moderator Jessy Wellmer, known from the daily topics, calls for participation in the participation campaign. The aim of the campaign is to persuade people to examine the condition of the streams. Questions such as the color of the water, the smell or the natural course of the stream are to be observed and documented. The observations can be comfortably filled out on the cell phone via an online questionnaire. All results are published on the Germany map on theerste.de/unsersefluesse.

The ARD participation is supported by various organizations such as the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Office for Nature Conservation, the Federal Environment Agency, the BUND, CORRECTIV, GREENPECE, the Green League, the WWF, the German Hiking Association, the German Fishing Association, the Ring Deutscher Scouts: Interior Associations, the Federation of German Forest and Grandma for Future. Scientific consultancy is adopted by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and the University of Duisburg-Essen.

The results of the participation campaign will be on October 23, 2024 in the first in the ARD story "Our rivers - how do we save Germany's lifeline?" presented. Further information on the participation campaign and tips on river observation can be found on the Website daserste.de/unserefluesse.

Table:
The table can contain relevant information on rivers and streams, such as its name, its location, its length, the degree of stress, and whether they are ecologically healthy or not. (Exemplary)

Source: SWR - Südwestrundfunk/OTS