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A green safety net is being stretched across Europe to
save what remains of the continent's biodiversity. Sewing of the net has
begun in Central and Eastern Europe, the area that seems most at risk of
losing its prodigious natural wealth.
By Andreas Beckmann The net above consists of Ecological Networks (ECONETs) a buzzword in conservation circles, that are now being practically applied to Europe as a whole. This past March, the ambitious Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) was given a formal boost in a kick-off celebration of its first phase, announced by the European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC). ECNC and ten partner organizations will map a network of significant natural and semi-natural sites throughout the continent to support governments and land users in conserving natural heritage and in creating or maintaining cross-border corridors between these areas. Development of the PEEN will begin in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the rich store of natural heritage of which is expected to come under strong pressure from economic growth and massive infrastructure development in coming years. Hopefully, the PEEN will help balance the interests of nature and economic development, particularly as the European Union expands eastwards. According to Irene Bouwma of ECNC, a draft of the network for CEE should be ready for review by May 2001 after extensive consultations with ministries, international NGOs and research organisations. The final version will be available in the spring of 2002. Mapping of the areas to the west and east, including Ukraine, Belarus, and parts of Russia, will follow. The Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) was given life in 1995 at the Sofia Conference of European Ministers for Nature and the Environment. Concerned over the continuing erosion of the continent's biodiversity, the representatives of 54 European countries agreed to implement the landmark Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy - a list of policy recommendations that included financial mechanisms and economic measures. First on the list was the establishment of the PEEN. Why? Traditional European conservation efforts had focused on protecting individual habitats or species, not on a more holistic view encompassing the continent as a whole. But the many individual efforts to safeguard Europe's environment had failed to stem the loss of habitats and species, or to prevent the increasing fragmentation of natural areas. What remained of Europe's natural heritage was scattered across the continent like green islands. Habitats and other natural sites became isolated amidst agricultural, industrial and urban landscapes. In response, the PEEN was meant to stitch together green islands like the Podyji/Thayatal National Parks (see Green uses for the Iron Curtain, below) and other natural sites, not only marking out areas of high natural value, but also the green bridges between them that can allow plants and animals to migrate from one to another, thus increasing the resilience of their populations. The network not only provides a tool for better understanding the international character of ecological processes and the threats posed to them, but also a platform for international cooperation on land planning and nature conservation. It further provides a framework for all manner of conservation initiatives throughout the continent, from local efforts to preserve specific habitats to international initiatives such as the Ramsar Convention on the protection of wetlands or the European Union's Natura 2000 project. According to Irene Bouwma, the green network will make it possible to better coordinate conservation efforts and identify potential conflict zones. The map will be particularly valuable for CEE countries heading for membership in the European Union, as it will highlight the environmental impact of infrastructure development plans such as the Trans European Network of highways and rail lines. The PEEN follows and builds on earlier efforts in the Netherlands and CEE to develop a European Ecological Network (referred to then as EECONET). A national plan for an ecological network was accepted in the Netherlands in the early 1990s. Then in 1993, thanks to Dutch initiative, IUCN - The World Conservation Union began introducing similar plans to CEE countries. "The European Ecological Network (EECONET) and the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) are a way of thinking, integrating nature conservation across Europe, across national borders and institutions," says Zenon Tederko, director of the IUCN office for Central Europe. "In contrast to economic or legal policy measures, it is a visualization of what we think is sustainable development." Like a patchwork quilt, the network will try to stitch together existing plans for ecological networks at the national level. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic all have national plans for ecological networks currently in place. IUCN, which helped the countries to develop the plans several years ago, is currently working with the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine also have expressed serious interest to develop networks, according to Tederko. Progress on developing ecological networks is most advanced in the Czech Republic, where the national plan piggybacked on an already existing network. The idea for the Territorial System of Ecological Stability (TSES) arose in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s parallel to and independently from the development of the EECONET concept in The Netherlands, and was already well-developed by 1989. In 1991, the TSES was given a legal anchor with passage of the Law on Nature and Landscape Protection. The TSES is now firmly established in the Czech Republic, maintains Antonin Bucek, chairperson of the VERONICA Ecological Institute. The institute is one of the moving forces behind the development of the network in the country. Bucek estimates that the TSES has been incorporated into land use plans for about 90 percent of the country's territory, and no new plan is approved without including the system's biocentres, biocorridors and buffer zones. All changes in land use must respect the plan, says Bucek. He cites the well known Swedish company IKEA which, in order to receive a permit to build a hyperstore on the edge of Brno, was required to plant a 40-hectare forest biocentre. "The Czechs have a nice link between the ecological network on the map and a number of financial mechanisms for its practical implementation," notes Bouwma. A number of special funds at the Czech ministries of environment and agriculture are available, for example, to restore wetlands and plant biocorridors, and give clear priority to projects fitting into the TSES. Practical implementation of the TSES, however, is just beginning. And other countries in the region lag behind the Czechs in implementing their own ecological networks. In Poland, for example, the national plan is not yet law, although it has made a difference in decision-making at the regional level, says Tederko. One reason for the hold-up is that, while governments have recognized the need to develop ecological networks, they have been less forthcoming with hard cash. The poor condition of state budgets is often blamed, but many feel that the environment still takes a distant back seat to economic and other concerns. Funds available to the Czechs for restoring wetlands - though certainly better than nothing - are miniscule relative to other items in the state budget. Changes in land ownership pose both another challenge, and an opportunity. Privatisation has greatly complicated landscape conservation by producing a plethora of new landowners. Members of the White Carpathians chapter of the Czech Union of Nature Conservationists (CSOP Bile Karpaty), working to manage the landscape of the 700-hectare Certorje nature reserve in the southern part of the White Carpathians, are faced with negotiating rights to manage the area's meadow ecosystems with 2,000 land owners who got back their family's traditional narrow strips of land through restitution. On the plus side, private ownership puts owners closer to the land, holding out the possibility that they will act as stewards of their natural wealth. According to Radim Machu, deputy mayor of the village of Hostetin, a key problem has been the lack of provisions for maintaining the ecological network once it has been established. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a key role to play in education, awareness-raising and practical implementation of the ecological network. NGOs throughout the Czech Republic are involved in planning and planting biocentres and biocorridors, working with landowners to safeguard natural values, and supporting related economic measures. For example, in the White Carpathians, SOP Kosenka is helping local farmers to reintroduce extensive sheep herding, which is gradually nurturing the hillside meadows, devastated by years of industrial farming, back to health. The group has persuaded a number of local landowners to entrust it with management of their land, and has become known throughout the country for the brigades of volunteer mowers it organizes every summer to maintain the meadow ecosystems of the area. Fifteen land trusts owned by Czech environmental groups have also been established in the country, and another 35 are currently in preparation, according to Pavel Pesout of the Czech Union of Nature Conservationists. And the country's new environmental policy assigns an important role to not-for-profit land trusts as stewards of areas with special natural significance. Economic development in Central Europe is occurring at a frightening rate, presenting communities with a fait accompli before they can even realize what is at stake. For example, the beautiful karst region of the Jura Upland in southern Poland is facing intense pressure from the booming developments of the Krakow-Katowice conurbation. And the Czech Ministry of Environment recently relented to political pressure and permitted construction of the A8 motorway through the middle of the protected area of the Czech Middle Mountains, a project that could devastate the area's rich biodiversity. More cases like this, where core natural areas and corridors are split and fragmented, are sure to increase as EU accession nears, particularly as plans to sensitise EU financial instruments to environmental concerns have yet to translate into actual practice. Scarcely a decade since the fall of the Iron Curtain, societies in CEE are still little prepared to deal with these issues. This should only lend urgency to the current efforts tracing the contours of a Pan-European Ecological Network in CEE, to focus attention on the rich natural treasures that are being lost. For more info, visit the ECNC or e-mail the IUCN, iucn@iucn-ce.org.pl. |
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