Municipalities create diversity
Chemnitz honoured as one of 40 cities, municipalities and districts in the federal competition "Nature City - Municipalities Create Diversity"
Today, Wednesday 25 November, Chemnitz will be honoured as one of 40 municipalities in the nationwide "Naturstadt - Kommunen schaffen Vielfalt" competition for its project idea to promote urban nature and insects in residential areas. The city will receive 25,000 euros for the realisation of the future project "Chemnitz blossoms!".
The joint project between the Environmental Centre, City Planning Office, Green Spaces Office, Environmental Agency, the "Chemnitz grünt" initiative, the Museum of Natural History and the Seed Garden is set to run for the next two years. This will involve working together to develop and publicise assistance for the successful development of insect-friendly flowering areas using native seeds. The target groups are voluntary initiatives, schools, municipal institutions and housing associations and co-operatives.
The desire for more urban greenery was already expressed for the Capital of Culture application. Together with the people of Chemnitz, a start was made on sowing large areas of flower seeds. The aim was to create 10,000 square metres of colourful flower meadows in various parts of the city together with the city's green spaces department, the GGG and the six housing cooperatives. The experience gained from the "Capital of Culture Flowering Meadows" will be incorporated into the project idea for the flowering meadows and their realisation.
Information on the "Natural City - Communities Create Diversity" competition
With this competition, the federal government wants to support local authorities in developing and implementing new projects to promote urban nature and insects. Cities, municipalities and rural districts were therefore invited to submit project ideas for the protection of insects in urban areas and the promotion of urban nature. Municipalities that have not yet initiated any or only very few projects on the competition theme were particularly encouraged to take part. The closing date for entries was 30 June 2020 and the 40 best project ideas were selected by a jury of experts. They will each receive 25,000 euros from the Federal Ministry for the Environment for the realisation of their future projects. The competition is organised by the "Communities for Biodiversity" alliance.
Information on the 40 award-winning project ideas can be found at www.wettbewerb-naturstadt.de. An award video with a message from the Federal Environment Minister at www.chemnitz.de/naturstadt