Germany Summary

Germany (357,021 sq km; 82,797,408 inhabitants) is a federal republic, administratively divided in 16 states or Länder (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen).

Legislative competences for the environment are distributed between the national and regional level. The Federal Ministry handles the development of the main environmental legislation, which the Regions monitor and enforce. Nature conservation, landscape management and water policy are also treated on a regional level.

As a highly industrialized state, Germany's policy priorities include emissions control, and water and soil quality protection.