After a three-day expert
meeting held in Italy and ending on 20 June 2012, participants concluded that
there is further potential for European beech forests as World Natural
Heritage. The workshop was held in the context of the existing site “Primeval
Beech Forests of the Carpathians and The Ancient Beech Forests of Germany”, and
demonstrated how World Heritage was instrumental in convening a region wide
effort to identify and conserve the last best remaining beech forests, from Ukraine
to Spain, and from Greece to France. The existing nomination was originally
inscribed as “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians” (Ukraine/ Slovakia,
2007), but following enthusiasm from Germany, and with the support from Ukraine
and Slovakia it was expanded to include 5 additional component parts in
Germany.
The success of this expanded property served
to fuel further interest among not only the scientific community, but also
among governments. A November 2011 workshop held at the Isle of Vilm, to which
beech forest experts from across Europe were invited, resulted in a firm
commitment to further explore not only the feasibility of a broader World
Heritage beech forest site, but also to build a European beech forest
conservation network. The follow-up workshop in June 2012, organized by the
German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Italian University
of Tuscia, helped advance the thinking on potential areas and their additional
value for a further nomination. It is a challenge to nominate such a
transnational serial site, given the widely dispersed remnants of primeval and
ancient beech forests. Prof. Hans D. Knapp of the BfN says “Regardless of the
outcome in terms of eventual inscription of new beech forest sites, this is a
win-win situation, as the initial enthusiasm over World Heritage has already
evolved into a region-wide effort to identify and conserve these remnant
forests. We have now built up a top quality network for beech forest experts
and are assembling, for the first time in history, knowledge on the state of
conservation of these forests throughout the entire European continent. It also
shall improve the public awareness for the irreplaceable value of ancient
forests and contribute to strengthen the protection of forests in Europe as
joint natural heritage”.
German
Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
