DBU

"The Effects of Climate Change are Already Apparent Around the World"

ERFURT, Germany, October 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The German President presented the DBU's German Environmental Prize today in Erfurt

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked "thousands of people" in Germany for ensuring that "mainstream society has truly become aware" of both the environment and environmental protection. At the award ceremony for the German Environmental Foundation's (DBU) German Environmental Prize that was held today in Erfurt, he emphasized the fact that environmental issues and climate protection affect all of us, and that "every one of us can make a difference." However, we can only combat an issue of this magnitude "if we view the environment and climate protection in a global context. Environmental issues do not stop at national borders, and neither does environmental protection. The effects of climate change are already apparent around the world, and they are a matter of life and death." -Steinmeier personally handed over the richest independent environmental prize in Europe to marine biologist Antje Boetius (Bremerhaven) and an interdisciplinary team of wastewater experts from Leipzig made up of Roland A. Müller, Manfred van Afferden, Mi-Yong Lee and Wolf-Michael Hirschfeld.   

"It will be fatal if one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world withdraws."  

In front of an audience of around 1,200 guests, which included the Jordanian Ambassador to Germany, Basheer Zoubi, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Ali Subah, Thuringia's Minister of Environment, Anja Siegesmund, and previous DBU award winner and former federal minister, Klaus Töpfer, Steinmeier, referring to the US, warned that it will be "fatal if one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world withdraws and even goes as far as to call these multilateral partnerships into question." Even though the road to global solutions can be bumpy and we will continue to experience further setbacks, we need to "work together across all governmental and non-governmental levels in order to create a larger working alliance." President Steinmeier: "We are able to and will continue to make progress when all of us who still believe in multilateral solutions work together - and there are a lot of us around the world, even in the US!"