Joint press release with the environment ministries of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Thuringia and Hesse
One year after the nomination of German beech forests as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site officially started, the activities organised at the federal and Länder levels are entering into a new phase. Today sees the start of a public information campaign running throughout the entire application process. Its aim is to inform the population continuously and thoroughly about important steps on the road towards the nomination and to ensure public participation in the regions involved.
In a joint action by the four participating Länder, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Thuringia and Hesse, the website www.weltnaturerbe-buchenwaelder.de has been activated today. Interested citizens can find extensive information on the subject of the World Natural Heritage and on the last semi-natural beech forests in Europe. Additionally, the Länder have published the brochure "Beech Forests in Germany - a World Natural Heritage". The free brochure describes the nomination in clear language, highlighting the unique value of European beech forests.
The brochure and all future publications on the subject can be ordered from the website. The website allows the public to follow the nomination process and to receive updates on new developments. A guest book allows visitors to the site to exchange their views on the issue, to leave comments and to make suggestions. This will help to ensure broad public involvement with the ambitious project to nominate selected beech forests in Germany as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage. The Federal Environment Ministry is supporting the Länder's joint public relations campaign as well as the entire nomination process.
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention places unique natural or cultural sites under international protection. Strict criteria are applied in the process. The application procedure is very demanding and requires qualified preparatory work. For that reason the Länder started early last year to compile a joint nomination dossier to be submitted to UNESCO by February 2009. The Nomination File will include, in particular, a detailed description of the areas and their outstanding universal value. It will also explain which measures are taken to safeguard the World Heritage site in the long term.
Selected beech forests belonging to the following five protected areas in Germany will be proposed to UNESCO with a view to being classified as a World Heritage site:
- Jasmund National Park (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
- Müritz National Park (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
- Grumsiner Forst in the UNESCO biosphere reserve of Schorfheide-Chorin (Brandenburg)
- Hainich National Park (Thuringia)
- Kellerwald Edersee National Park (Hesse).
These sites are the most valuable remains of large-scale semi-natural beech forests in Germany and a perfect addition to the primeval beech forests of the Carpathians, which have been UNESCO World Heritage since 2007.
It would be a special honour to receive World Natural Heritage status as that would place Germany's beech forests on a level with the Grand Canyon in the USA and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - or, in Germany, with the Messel Pit Fossil Site near Darmstadt (since 1995 the only World Natural Heritage site in Germany) and perhaps soon the Wadden Sea (nomination process is underway).