On 4-3-2002 the revised Federal Nature Protection Act (BNatSchG) went into effect. In the following, a survey of the structure and amendments of the BNatSchG shall be presented.

In the German legal system, the BNatSchG is pivotal as an instrument for the protection of nature, though there are other laws pertinent to the protection of nature, such as the Federal Regional Planning Act, the Federal Building and Zoning Code, the Federal Forestry Act, the Federal Soil Protection Act, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, and the Federal Species Protection Decree.