The Environment Chronicle

The salt-rich Wadden Sea has been named "Water body type of the Year 2015“. It comprises about 20% of Germany's coastal waters and is located on the country's North Sea coast between the North Sea and East Frisian islands, the mainland and the Jade Bight. Although its condition has greatly improved since 30 years ago, it achieves only "moderate" to "poor" ecological status in the EC Water Framework Directive's classification scheme.

The UK city of Bristol has won the European Green Capital Award for 2015. The award was presented by European Commision at a ceremony in Nantes, France, which currently holds the title, on 14 June 2013.Bristol received recognition for its investment plans in the areas of transport and energy, and especially for its commitment to act as a true role model for the green economy in Europe and beyond. Its communication and social media strategy were also highlighted as a real call to action for its citizens. The Jury considered Bristol’s sustainable community projects to be good examples of citizen engagement to tackle environmental, economic and social issues. The city has committed a budget of EUR 500 million for transport improvements by 2015 and up to EUR 300 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy by 2020. Bristol's transport and urban policies have contributed to achieving better air quality.

Sending a signal for the protection of the Earth to enable future world development: with the presentation of its German Environmental Award, the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) is appealing “to the international community to set a course to ensure the future of humanity by safeguarding the Planet at the upcoming conferences in New York and Paris in 2015,” DBU Secretary General Dr. Heinrich Bottermann stressed on 22 September 2015. The climate and ocean researcher Prof. Mojib Latif and the internationally active global sustainability scientist Prof. Johan Rockström will receive the biggest European environmental prize in Essen on 8 November 2015. Latif has been the director of the research division Oceanic Circulation and Climate Dynamics at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Among other things, he is a member of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg, the Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome, and chairman of the German Climate Consortium . In 2001 and 2007, he was a co-author of the World Climate Report of the IPCC. Since 2003, he has been professor at Kiel University. Turning to the other prizewinner, Bottermann said that Rockström has been director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre since 2007. Essentially, resilience is the capacity to withstand external disturbances - the ability to exist as before despite of disturbances as well as to adapt to changing conditions and transform and refine in situations of crisis. A critical and emerging area in resilience research is focused on understanding the risks involved in crossing critical tipping points on the planetary scale, which might undermine the ability for human development. This is a research field where Rockström has made particularly strong contributions. 2015, the DBU has chosen Em. Prof. Michael Succow as the recipient of its “Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award”. He is considered an outstanding figure in nature conservation both nationally and internationally, and his commitment to large areas of wilderness in Germany is viewed as unique. At the time of German reunification, he succeeded, in one stroke and within a very short space of time, in securing 12.1 percent of the territory of the former East Germany with a temporary protected status, and 5.5 percent with a permanent protected status, in the form of national parks, biosphere reserves and nature parks under the national park programme for eastern Germany.

Orchid of the Year 2015 is the Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata).