The role of UNESCO World Heritage Beech Forest in supporting current policies and initiatives regarding old-growth (beech) forest conservation
The case of Germany shows how weakened forest ecosystems face dramatic climate change impacts, reported by a recent Greenpeace study.
In parallel, the new Government works on the recently signed coalition agreement, which explicitly mentions the need to protect old-growth beech forests “…stop the logging in old, near-natural beech forests in public ownership…”, also supporting the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
Additionally, a position paper issued last week by Deutscher Naturschutzring and leading conservation NGOs demands a consistent sustainable ecological orientation of forest policy, taking into account all ecosystem functions and services of forests, as central basis for a future forest policy.
The BEECH POWER project is currently developing a management support tool for WH beech forest component parts – the Code of Quality Management, which covers various management impact levels. These include the regional landscape matrix around WH beech forest component parts, and, in addition, the transnational level of the serial WH site as well as the (old-growth beech) forests on European level.
In the context of the current forest situation under climate change, and related policies and initiatives, there are several opportunities on these impact levels for UNESCO World Heritage Beech Forest component parts and related management authorities, to engage in and be part of an ecosystem-based sustainable development.