On 3 June 2025, the BUW 2024 Sustainability Award was awarded to Tom Schürhoff (Dec. 5) and Prof. Dr Gertrud Lohaus (Botany working group) for the project "Naturnahes Campusgelände für Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen"

Biodiversity is declining worldwide
Biological biodiversity is declining worldwide, i.e. more species are becoming extinct than new ones are being added. One reason for this is a lack of suitable habitats (biotopes) for the species. Species conservation should therefore primarily be understood as biotope conservation.

Our contribution to sustainable development
Urban sites, such as the BUW's outdoor area, can also provide a habitat for various plant and animal species. This requires a more natural design of the grounds and various (micro) habitats should be available on the site.

What has been/is being done on the campus?

• Habitats for various plant and animal species are being created through various measures (e.g. bird food trees, deadwood hedges, species-rich grassland)
• the grounds are maintained in such a way that habitats with as much structure as possible are preserved and in other areas, apart from measures to ensure traffic safety, there is little intervention
• the campus grounds and the plant species growing there are utilised and presented in teaching events
• Biodiversity and the ecological relationships on the campus grounds are presented to a wider public through guided tours, brochures and other forms of presentation and the campus becomes a "living exhibition".

Further information on the project can be found on this page at Biodiversity