Home Elements of the Green City Environmental protection and nature conservation

Environmental protection and nature conservation

With its many forests, meadows, pastures, and vineyards, Freiburg is a “green city” in the truest sense and a biodiversity hotspot. The city’s location between the Black Forest with the Schauinsland mountain at 1,250 m and the Upper Rhine Plain at 250 m, as well as the numerous traditional cultural landscapes, give rise to an exceptionally large variety of habitats and animal and plant species in the metropolitan area. Freiburg maintains and supports this natural heritage through numerous protected areas, modern landscape management, a citywide biotope network, and funding measures for species conservation.   

The high quality of life in the City of Freiburg also stems from a healthy environment with clean air, clean groundwater and drinking water, near-natural streams and rivers, and healthy soil. Freiburg is located on the edge of the largest underground aquifer in Central Europe. What is more, the city has a unique water system in the form of the little streams known as “Bächle” that flow through town, and it uses its fertile soils for sustainable agriculture. To preserve these essential environmental resources, Freiburg employs a clean-air plan and practices sustainable stormwater management, near-natural watercourse development, and comprehensive soil protection.