Information on the openUMWELT website in plain language

openUMWELT is a website of the Federal Environment Agency. The Federal Environment Agency is often referred to as UBA for short.

On this website you can find publications written by the UBA.

These are, for example, brochures with tips on how you can protect the environment.

Or reports with results from research.

You can read the publications.

You can also save the publications to your computer.

A publication is when something is made accessible to everyone.

Sometimes people write down their knowledge.

And they want lots of people to be able to read it.

Then they make what they have written accessible to everyone.

For example, in a book or a magazine.

This is called publication.

These publications are stored on openUMWELT.

Anyone can search for and read these publications.

At the moment there are only publications on openUMWELT that have been written since January 1, 2013.

The publications that are not there yet will be added soon.

For example, brochures with tips on how you can protect the environment.

Or reports with results from research.

You can read the publications.

You can also save the publications to your computer.

Everything is free of charge.

Do you want to find something in openUMWELT?

There is a search bar for this.

It is in the middle of the page.

You can enter a word in the search bar.

For example, the word “water”.

Then click on the small magnifying glass to the right of the search field.

You will then see all texts containing the word “water”.

There are other fields below the search bar in the middle.

For example, a button with the name “Advanced search”.

If you click on it, you will see new options on the left.

These options will help you search.

For example, you can search for people who have written something.

Or you can search for a specific topic.

In the middle you will see two new fields to enter.

In the left-hand field you decide where you want to search.

You can search everywhere.

Or you can only search in a specific part.

For example, the word “climate”.

In the right-hand field, enter the word you are looking for.

For example, the word “water”.

To the right of this field is a magnifying glass.

Click on the magnifying glass to start the search.

You will see the results of the search in the middle of the page.

At the top you can see how many results were found.

The results are the things you have searched for.

Each result shows you the name of the publication.

And a small picture.

And a short description.

You can click on each result.

Then you can see more about it.

You can see a button called “Collections” under the search bar in the middle.

Each collection has texts on a specific topic.

For example, there are collections on topics that the UBA finds important.

But there are also collections of texts written by UBA employees.

If you click on a collection, you will see all the texts in that collection.

You can see a button called “Browse” under the search bar in the middle.

“Browse” means "search".

You can use this button to search the openUMWELT website.

You can search for various things.

For example: The year in which something was published.

Or by the people who wrote something.

You can also search for titles.

Or for certain words that often appear in a text.

Or you can search for specific topics.

You will see a button called “Keywords” under the search bar in the middle.

“Keywords” are simply words on specific topics.

For example, the word “waste”.

You can click on the “Keywords” button.

You will then see all the keywords you can search for in openUMWELT.

You can click on a word.

openUMWELT will then show you all the items containing this word.

There is a number to the right of the words.

This number shows how many publications have this word.

There is also a search field.

The search field is under “Listing by keyword” in the middle.

You can enter a word here.

For example, the word “waste”.

And then click on the small book and the word “Go”.

Then openUMWELT searches for the word “waste” in its data collection.

The openUMWELT website should be usable for everyone.

Even for people who have no or poor eyesight.

Even for people who can't hear or have difficulty hearing.

Also, for people who have problems with difficult texts.

Problems with a website are also called “barriers”.

An accessibility statement states whether a website is easy to use for all people.

This means whether people with disabilities can use the site easily.

There is a special law for this in Germany.

This law is called the Disability Equality Act.

The declaration on accessibility also contains contact options.

There you can report any problems you have with the website.

How easy is it to use the openUMWELT website?

The openUMWELT website has not yet been properly tested.

Only a self-test has been carried out.

This test was carried out in January 2025.

The test shows: The openUMWELT website does not meet all requirements.

There are still problems.

These problems are to be improved bit by bit

Some PDF files are not easy to use.

These are mainly long reports from research projects.

These reports are for a specific group of people.

Improving these reports would be very time-consuming.

That is why these reports are not improved.

There are also no videos in sign language yet.

The website is still under construction.

The videos in sign language should be on the website by the end of 2025.

You can find out more about the Federal Environment Agency in sign language on another website.

The website is: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/gebaerdensprache

Another self-test will be carried out in 2025.

The declaration was made on 17.01.2025.

The declaration was also checked again on this day.

Do you have questions about accessibility?

You can write to us.

There is a form for this.

The form is called "Barrier report".

This is the address of the Federal Environment Agency for the openUMWELT website:

Federal Environment Agency
Environment Library - Publication Server
City Campus Berlin, House 3A
Buchholzweg 8
13627 Berlin

Phone: +49-30-8903-5362
E-mail: openumwelt@uba.de

There is a special office at the Federal Government Commissioner for People with Disabilities.

This office helps when there is a dispute.

For example, if you are not satisfied with the answers from the Federal Environment Agency.

This office wants to help you find a solution.

Without going to court.

It costs nothing.

You don't need a lawyer either.

You can find information on this on the agency's website.

It explains exactly how it works.

And how you can apply for it.

This is the address of the office:

Conciliation body under the Disability Equality Act
at the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Persons with Disabilities
Mauerstraße 53
10117 Berlin

Telephone: +49 (0)30 18 527 - 2805
Fax: +49 (0)30 18 527 - 2901

E-Mail: info@schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de
Internet: https://www.schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de