Protected biotopes are habitats of special plant and animal species. These habitats deserve special protection because they are rare, have a high ecological value and/or are threatened with destruction.

There are laws and international agreements to protect these habitats. In Lower Saxony, the following biotope types are placed under special legal protection by Section 30 of the Nature Conservation and Landscape Management Act (BNatSchG):

• Natural or near-natural areas of flowing and standing inland waters including their banks and the associated natural or near-natural vegetation along the banks as well as their natural or near-natural siltation areas, oxbow lakes and regularly flooded areas,
• Bogs, swamps, reedbeds, sedge meadows, wet meadows rich in sedges and rushes, spring areas, inland salt marshes,
• open inland dunes, open natural boulder, rubble and scree slopes, clay and loess walls, dwarf shrub, broom and juniper heaths, bristle grassland, dry grassland, heavy metal grassland, forests and shrubs in dry and warm locations,
• quarry, swamp and alluvial forests, ravine, boulder and slope debris forests, subalpine larch and larch-pine forests,
• open rock formations, caves and near-natural tunnels, alpine grasslands as well as snow valleys and krummholz bushes,
• Rocky and steep coasts, coastal dunes and beach embankments, beach lakes, lagoons with sedimentation areas, salt marshes and mudflats in coastal areas, seagrass meadows and other marine macrophyte stands, reefs, sublittoral sandbanks, mudflats with boring bottom megafauna as well as species-rich gravel, coarse sand and shingle beds in marine and coastal areas,
• lean lowland meadows and mountain meadows according to Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC, orchards, stone bars and dry stone walls.

In addition, the following biotope types are placed under special legal protection in accordance with Section 24 of the Lower Saxony Nature Conservation Act (NNatSchG):

• tall herb-rich wet meadows and other species-rich wet and wet grassland,
• mountain meadows,
• mesophilic grassland,
• fruit tree meadows and pastures with an area of more than 2,500 m ²of high-stemmed fruit trees with a trunk height of more than 1.60 m (orchards) and
• sinkholes.

The protection of other biotopes may result from special legal provisions for the protection of certain areas.

Actions that could lead to the destruction or significant impairment of these habitats with their typical flora and fauna are prohibited. Exceptions may be permitted in individual cases if the adverse effects can be compensated for. Damage and destruction of specially protected biotopes caused by ignorance is also illegal. The polluter may be obliged to restore the original condition.

The legally protected biotopes are recorded by the municipality, joint municipality and town and registered in a list of protected parts of nature and landscape. The entry in this register is notified in writing to the owners and authorized users. The municipalities, joint municipalities and towns keep extracts from this register. Anyone can inspect this register and the extracts in accordance with Section 14 NAGBNatSchG.