A big day for nature conservation in Germany
At its 35th meeting in Paris the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe the "Ancient Beech Forests of Germany" in the World Heritage List. "This is a big day for nature conservation in Germany. Our beech forests now have the same status as sites of global renown like Yellowstone National Park, the Galapagos Islands and the Wadden Sea. This is a huge success of our efforts to conserve beech forests in Germany, which are typical of the natural vegetation in our country", said Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen.
Germany had applied for the inscription of outstanding ancient beech forests in the UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List in early 2010. The nominated forests are located in five protected areas:
- Jasmund National Park (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
- Serrahn in Müritz National Park (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
- Grumsin in the UNESCO biosphere reserve of Schorfheide-Chorin (Brandenburg)
- Hainich National Park (Thuringia)
- Kellerwald Edersee National Park (Hesse).
These areas represent the most valuable relics of large-scale natural beech forests in Germany. They are an excellent complement to the UNESCO World Heritage property "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians" which was listed in 2007 and now forms a joint property with the German sites.
The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage puts outstanding, unique natural and cultural heritage under global protection. The beech forests are the third World Natural Heritage property in Germany after the Messel Pit Fossil Site (inscribed in 1995) and the Wadden Sea (2009).