Throwback: Action Week 2025

The “Achtung Artenvielfalt!” action week took place for the fifth time from October 6 to 12, 2025.

Accompany rangers into the moor, winterize natural gardens, discover mushrooms, or help build a hedgehog tent: from October 6 to 12, 2025, over 80 events nationwide offered exciting insights into the fascinating world of biodiversity. They invited people to learn about the habitats of species and find out what we can do ourselves to protect and preserve them.

Whether through special exhibitions, hands-on activities, lectures, or discovery tours, there was plenty to discover and learn both online and offline. Nature conservation associations, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, and research institutions across Germany participated with great enthusiasm. FEdA was also represented with its own activities. Particularly popular was the mushroom hike through Frankfurt’s city forest organized by FEdA-KS with expert Dietmar Krüger. Participants gained exciting insights into the diversity and functions of edible and poisonous mushrooms.

What does biodiversity in the city actually sound like? How does plant diversity in fields affect our health? How do species-rich community gardens influence our well-being? FEdA projects under the BiodivGesundheit funding guideline, which deal with these and other questions, were presented in short videos. This allowed interested parties to find out more online, marvel at the findings, and discover how closely biodiversity and health are linked.

Since 2021, the “Achtung Artenvielfalt!” action week has been raising public awareness of species and habitat loss, highlighting potential solutions, and, above all, inspiring people to protect this colourful diversity.
The action week is organized by the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA), the Association of German Natural Science Research Collections (DNFS), and the Leibniz Natural History Museums – the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, the Senckenberg Museums in Frankfurt/Main, Görlitz & Dresden, and the Leibniz Institute for Biodiversity Change Analysis in Bonn & Hamburg. The nationwide action week “Achtung Artenvielfalt!” was launched by the FEdA and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research.

Greeting from the patron

Bundesregierung / Steffen Kugler

Dorothee Bär

Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space:

Dorothee Bär Bundesministerin für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt:

Meine feste Überzeugung: Für ein gesundes Leben brauchen wir vor allem eines – eine gesunde Natur. Die diesjährige Aktionswoche „Achtung Artenvielfalt!“ macht genau das deutlich, indem sie neben anderen Themen den Zusammenhang zwischen Biodiversität und Gesundheit in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Denn ob frische Luft, sauberes Wasser oder fruchtbare Böden, die uns ernähren – all das verdanken wir funktionierenden Ökosystemen. Und noch mehr: Viele Medikamente, die uns helfen, stammen direkt oder indirekt aus der Natur. Pilze, Mikroorganismen und Pflanzen liefern wichtige Wirkstoffe für medizinische Produkte. Das zeigt: Artenvielfalt ist weit mehr als ein schönes Wort – sie ist die Grundlage für unsere Gesundheit und eine Schatzkammer für neue Ideen. Denn wir können uns von der Natur inspirieren lassen – und von ihr lernen. Wenn wir die Natur besser verstehen, können wir sie besser schützen und uns auch von ihr für neue Innovationen inspirieren lassen.

Als Schirmherrin der Aktionswoche „Achtung Artenvielfalt!“ lade ich Sie herzlich ein, bei den zahlreichen Aktionen mitzumachen und die Vielfalt der Natur und ihre Möglichkeiten neu zu entdecken.

Ihre Dorothee Bär

Translation:

Dorothee Bär Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space:

I firmly believe that for a healthy life, we need one thing above all else – a healthy natural environment. This year’s “Achtung Artenvielfalt!” action week highlights precisely that by focusing on the connection between biodiversity and health, among other topics. Whether it’s fresh air, clean water, or fertile soil that feeds us – we owe all of this to functioning ecosystems. What’s more, many of the medicines that help us come directly or indirectly from nature. Fungi, microorganisms, and plants provide important active ingredients for medical products. This shows that biodiversity is much more than just a nice word – it is the foundation of our health and a treasure trove of new ideas. We can draw inspiration from nature – and learn from it. If we understand nature better, we can protect it better and also draw inspiration from it for new innovations.

As patron of the “Achtung Artenvielfalt!” action week, I cordially invite you to take part in the numerous activities and rediscover the diversity of nature and its possibilities.

Yours, Dorothee Bär

Introducing the FEdA projects (German version only)

Toxins and antidotes: The FEdA project DIVATOX investigates how organisms react to environmental toxins and what conclusions this allows us to draw for humans and nature. In the video, you can accompany the researchers as they work on cyanobacteria in fresh water. More information about DIVATOX can be found here.

What does biodiversity sound like? The FEdA project CitySoundscapes investigates urban soundscapes and asks what they reveal about our health. In the video, the researchers take you on a sound journey. More information about CitySoundscapes here.

Healthy soils – healthy people. DCropS4OneHealth is researching how diversity in agriculture boosts yields, nutrition and climate resilience. In the video, the researchers take you out into the fields. More information about DCropS4OneHealth here.

How does biodiversity affect our mental health? HEBEDI is researching how nature and species diversity reduce stress and enhance well-being – and what community gardens have to do with it. More information about HEBEDI here.

When species disappear, it affects us too. ENDEMIC explores the links between biodiversity, pathogens and health. Join us and discover in this video the role biodiversity plays in the development of our microbiome. More information about ENDEMIC here.

Plants contain valuable active ingredients that are beneficial to our health. Using cabbage as an example, the SharpGreens project shows how secondary plant compounds from different species can strengthen our immune system and help prevent disease. More information about SharpGreens can be found here.

Water connects us all. What happens there says a lot about our environment and the state of biodiversity. MOMOBIO researches changes in biodiversity based on microbial diversity in urban waters. Based on the observed changes in microbial diversity, MOMOBIO aims to develop an indirect measure of human and animal health. More information about MOMOBIO here.