Vaclav HavelVaclav Havel 1936 – 2011
Statesman, playwright, hero of countless millions across Europe for his enduring struggle to secure freedom, finally realized in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Even while presiding over the rebuilding of his nation, as President of Czechoslovakia and subsequently the Czech Republic, the poet and the visionary in Vaclav Havel recognized the value of the wild in restoring meaning to our crowded lives. It was his memorable rhetoric which, in May 2009, opened the first EC Presidency Conference on wilderness, held in Prague.
"We have lost sight of eternity and are destroying nature for future generations."
Few people deserve to be called 'great'. Vaclav Havel was one of those. His name and memory will live on, undimmed, in our work to safeguard Europe's last wild areas.
New EU Biodiversity Strategy – a great step forward for wilderness
The final version of the European Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 has now been published.
This represents a very important step forward for the cause of wilderness and wild areas across Europe.
EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik introducing the Biodiversity Strategy
- Wilderness is specifically included, for the first time - and furthermore directly in the context of forest protection. With old growth forest still being lost on a daily basis, this is the most urgent requirement on our agenda currently.
In the short run alone, such inclusion will help with promotion of the Wilderness Register and of non intervention management approaches – both important elements in a protection strategy supported by Wild Europe.
- There is an ambitious aim of restoring 15% of degraded ecosystems by 2020. This reflects the Nagoya declaration. It also relates to the CBD’s 3rd Global Biodiversity Outlook report last year which identified 200,000 sq kms of marginal and abandoned land in Europe where large scale ‘re-wilding’ (their term) with reinstatement of natural processes, habitats and species could significantly boost global conservation objectives.
- There is, as expected, key focus on the economic benefits of biodiversity and in particular the role of ecosystem services in addressing climate change. This offers a further opportunity to prove and extend the remit for wilderness as an important element in EU European conservation strategy.
There are also many other elements in the EU Biodiversity Strategy through which the wilderness cause can be advanced, including issues such as connectivity, genetic diversity and resilience to invasive species.
This applies equally to wilderness and wild areas in EU and non EU states in Europe, with opportunities to support the latter through direct funding, neighbourhood agreements and trade policy.
Next Steps
There is much in EU Biodiversity Strategy that can now be built on.
With only 17% of the habitats and species and 11% of ecosystems theoretically protected under EC law actually identified as being in favourable condition, there is much that the wilderness cause can offer
Wild Europe will now be finalising development of its Wilderness Strategy and, within this, the Restoration Strategy – linked closely to support for the main objectives of the EU Strategy and its twin pillars of Natura 2000 and green infrastructure.
For a full version of the new Biodiversity Strategy, see: An EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020
For a full version of benefits of wilderness in supporting EU Strategy targets Read more
CBD highlights opportunity for large scale restoration across Europe
Wild area restoration in Europe - of global significance
Potential for restoration across 200,000 km2 of abandoned farmland in Europe has been cited as providing significant opportunity to support global biodiversity strategy in the CBD’s 3rd Global Biodiversity Outlook.
Some 86,000 km2 of this could fall within the European Union.
Published in advance of the Nagoya Conference to address the world’s declining biodiversity, the Report is particularly significant.
“………There are opportunities for rewilding landscapes from farmland abandonment in some regions – in Europe, for example, about 200,000 square kilometers of land are expected to be freed up by 2050. Ecological restoration and reintroduction of large herbivores and carnivores will be important in creating self-sustaining ecosystems with minimal need for further human intervention.” CBD 3rd GBO, 2010, page 75
Against a backdrop of failure to meet most of the 2010 Biodiversity Targets, it provides strong affirmation of the importance to international conservation of protecting and restoring large wild areas of natural habitat and process in Europe.
The role of undisturbed old growth forest in particular is emphasized in the Report, not only storing significantly greater quantities of carbon than its managed counterpart, but through the process of ‘carbon fertilization’ this capacity may be augmented. Similar arguments apply to undisturbed wetland and peat areas.
For further detail on the CBD Global Biodiversity Outlook Report, see: http://gbo3.cbd.int
Wilderness Register to be developed
This announcement at the Brussels conference on restoration by Stefan Leiner, Head of Unit for Natura 2000 at the European Commission, represents an important step forward for strategy to tackle the urgent threat to wilderness and wild areas. The framework for the register, including a database and interactive mapping system, will be developed Inputs will then be invited from across Europe – both EU and non EU countries.
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Illegal road threat to Romanian National Park
Approval by the Romanian National Environmental Protection Agency has not been granted due to the reported deficiencies in the environmental impact assessment, including lack of review of the impact of the road itself.
Focus of the Month
Valuing Wild AreasAreas such as these are literally priceless. Yet alongside arguments of intrinsic benefit, ascribing a quantitative value to a wild area can help promote and fund its proper protection and restoration. |
Economic Benefits Group to be established
Focus will be on non extractive, no-impact benefits derived from ecotourism, ecosystem services and usage for social betterment: including youth development, healthcare, and conflict resolution. The group will initially comprise business people, economists, ecosystem specialists, landowners, farmers, social enterprise entrepreneurs – all of whom share a profound regard for wilderness as well as contributing their professional expertise. Of course the true intrinsic value of the wild is priceless. But there is no doubt that realization of its economic value can attract essential support for its protection and expansion. Further detail of this Group, including key areas of work, and participation, will be announced shortly.
Wilderness Working Group meeting
The Wilderness Working Group met on 7th and 8th March in Vienna. Chaired by Erika Stanciu, the Group assessed practical definitions of wilderness and wild areas. These will be published shortly. It also reviewed opportunities to develop and fund a Europe wide communication strategy for wilderness, for which proposals are now being drafted. The WWG is now comprised of participants from 13 countries: Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine and the USA.
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