What is the NaturePact?
Together with 57 other communes, the Commune of Niederanven committed itself to the government in 2021 to pursue a commune policy taking into account the interest of nature and the environment. The Nature Pact was officially signed in the Board of Aldermen on 10 November 2021.
Through this commitment, the Commune confirmed its previous objectives in the areas of sustainable protection of natural resources, especially in natural areas close to settlements, in open spaces, in forests and in water bodies, as well as it scommitment to achieving and, if possible, exceeding the targets set out in Luxembourg's integrated national energy and climate plan for the period 2021 to 2030 ("PNEC"), the national plan for sustainable development and the strategy and action plan for climate change adaptation.
In return, the government supports the communes financially and technically in these initiatives. Thus, the Nature Pact enables the government to support the communes’ conservation efforts to reduce the loss of biodiversity.
In order to ensure the success of the local climate strategy, the development and implementation of practical measures is required.
To begin with, the Commune should set itself objectives - in writing - for its future environmental policy initiatives. These should be aligned with national guidelines and to the extent possible should also cover all climate-relevant topics. In order to ensure this, initiatives by the Commune are primarily modelled after the action points defined in the Nature Pact.
Among other things, these stipulate that a "commune strategy for nature conservation" be drawn up at the beginning of any initiative, which defines quantitative and qualitative objectives for environmental policy development. This should be based on the catalogue of measures, which contains a total of 77 criteria in the six thematic fields of "Nature Conservation in General", "Settlement Areas", "Open Land", "Forest", "Water" and "Communication and Cooperation". In accordance with the EEA catalogue, the initiatives undertaken so far by the communes involved have been reviewed and evaluated in an audit. Future initiatives should also refer to this catalogue of criteria.
The Commune of Niederanven has been certified Basis since its first audit on the 27th of January 2023 and has thus achieved 41.3 % of the maximum score from a standing start.
The current nature team is composed of the following persons:
- 1 commune councillor: Josselijn de Vries
- 11 interested residents: Franco Avena, Guy Clausse, Pierre Heinen, Caroline Hoffmann, Danielly Kaufmann, Christa Karis, Tessy Klopp-Sowa, Christophe Loeillet, Michel Schaus, Rose Scharfe & Guy Uhres
- Forestry District Niederanven: Pit Lacour
- SIAS Nature Pact Advisor: Xavier Petry
- 2 commune officers: Christiane Bour & Kevin Becker
2023:
Below are some of the activities that the commune will be carrying out in 2023 as part of the NaturePact:
- implementation of the NaturePact audit (40%)
- ecological management of green spaces together with the SIAS biological station
- organisation of the "Dag vum Bam"
- construction of a life tower near the school "Am Sand''
- development of a communal strategy for environmental protection
- decision in favour of new plantings in the settlement area
- preparation of a resolution for nature-friendly communal buildings and PAPs
- promotion of nature-orientated management, use and design of private areas
2022:
In 2022, the commune of Niederanven initiated or implemented more than 30 activities in the spirit of the nature pact.
The most important activities include the development of :
- Communal strategy for environmental protection
- New planting in residential areas
- Nature-friendly communal buildings and PAPs
- Promotion of nature-friendly management, use and development of private land
- Communication concept
These concepts were all adopted at the communal council meeting of 25.1.2023.
The targets set by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Energy are:
- the PNEC „Le Plan national intégré en matière d’énergie et de climat“ with its climate targets for 2030, including :
- the reduction of greenhouse gases by -55% compared to the base year 2005
- the increase in renewable energy from 11% to 25%
- the increase in energy efficiency from 40% to 44%
- the national sustainable development plan with its environmental degradation stop and its respect for natural resources
- the strategy and action plan for adaptation to climate change
As commune, we set our targets in accordance with these regulations and do our best to meet and, in the best case, exceed them.
