Brussels, 23.09.21. More than 1,600 square meters of surface area are to be sealed for an asphalt parking lot at the Saarbrücken Wildlife Park. For EUR 450,000.

"An absolutely unnecessary sealing of land that leads to a further loss of the vital resource of land. There is already a huge university parking garage directly opposite on the other side of the street - which is even free of charge at weekends and is practically empty!" says Manuela Ripa (ÖDP), Member of the European Parliament for Saarland. 

Now a meadow belonging to the wildlife park is to be sacrificed. Benefits: 54 car parking spaces and a bus stop. Bicycle parking spaces are also planned. But perhaps the money would be better invested in a safe cycle path to the wildlife park. Environmental and transport associations have been calling for this for years.

With this action, the city of Saarbrücken once again shows that it does not recognize the signs of the times. Climate change, natural disasters, loss of biodiversity... We must finally think and act with the future in mind, instead of always subsidizing short-sighted, convenient solutions with several hundred thousand euros.Saarland has a massive soil sealing problem - numerous citizens' initiatives are drawing attention to this. This includes the "People's initiative against land consumption in Saarland", which is collecting 5,000 signatures at www.vif-saar.de by March 2022 so that the Saarland state parliament finally has to address the issue of land consumption.

"Soils are a limited resource that take thousands of years to develop. Healthy soils are the basis of our ecosystems, a secure food supply, effective climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity. They also reduce the risk of flooding. This is especially true in view of the fact that the Meerwiesertalweg, the access road to the wildlife park, has already been flooded in the past. When will Saarland finally stop trampling on the value of the soil," asks Manuela Ripa.   

But the real irony is that for an afternoon of walking through the wildlife park for several hours, a few hundred meters from the car to the entrance is unreasonable?