Guidelines for the management of wilderness and wild areas in Natura 2000

Eurosite is delighted to be involved in the following important European Commission study and to be working (again) in partnership with Alterra and the PAN Parks Foundation. Wilderness and wild areas are increasingly important because of the valuable biodiversity they possess. Appropriate management approaches through, for example, restoration - or rewilding - are particularly interesting for our membership.

About the project

Wilderness and wild areas contribute to making nature more resilient to the impacts of climate change and to preventing biodiversity loss. Often, Natura 2000 sites are core components of such areas. The development of appropriate management approaches involves consideration about issues such as the scale of protection and protected areas, the relationship between Natura 2000 sites and their wider context and the practical implications for management of large areas, which include management of the ecological connections between and around Natura 2000 sites.

The report on 'Wilderness in Europe’ (Gyula Hegyi 2008. Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. European Parliament, Session Document 2008/2210 (INI)) adopted by the European Parliament in February 2009 states that the European Commission should develop appropriate recommendations that provide guidance to the EU Member States on the best way of ensuring protection of present and potential wilderness or wild lands and their natural processes, which are likely covered by the Natura 2000 network.

Managed on behalf of the European Commission, the study’s key aim is to develop draft guidelines on the management of wilderness and wild areas in the Natura 2000 network. This will involve giving consideration to both non-intervention management in existing wilderness areas and restoration measures and management in wild land areas, all being part of the Natura 2000 network.

The specific tasks are to:

Review available literature on definitions of wilderness, existing initiatives and legislative and statutory measures in Member States to protect wilderness and wild areas.

Establish the link between Natura 2000 sites and wilderness and analyse the role of the Natura 2000 network in the protection of wilderness.

Select and present a set of case studies representing different types of wilderness and wild areas.

Analyse the pressures affecting wilderness areas and review the quality of wilderness and wild areas in terms of their resilience and capacity to adapt.

Describe the key ecosystem services provided by wilderness areas and the benefits of these areas for e.g. the local communities.

Produce input to draft guidelines on protection and management of wilderness and wild areas.

Present an analysis of the means, objectives and feasibility for restoration measures leading to the development of wilderness and wild areas.

Provide cases of good practices on approaches for monitoring of wilderness and wild areas, and on typical financial needs for wilderness and wild areas.

Get involved – network, share and gain!

To gain more insight and to carry out the study, we will be looking for up to 8 best practice case studies on restoration across different biogeographical regions. Spatial scale, connectivity, and the ecological conditions with respect to natural disturbances and dynamics will be analysed as factors in the rewilding process. Possibilities for the re-introduction of extinct species as a possible way to reach a favourable conservation status will be, amongst other issues, described as well. Several members have already expressed their desire to be involved, but we are very keen to hear about your experiences in managing wilderness or wild areas in the Natura 2000 network.

If you or your colleagues have or know good site restoration examples or are able to contribute to the development of the draft guidelines for the management of wilderness and wild areas in Natura 2000, we would be interested to hear from you.

An online questionnaire has been developed jointly with the European Commission to gather feedback on both non-intervention management in existing wilderness areas and restoration measures and management in wild areas, which are part of the Natura 2000 network. A letter from Stefan Leiner, Head of the Natura 2000 Unit, requesting your support can be dowloaded below. The questionnaire is available via the following link:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG9NMW9WTHVzUktDVW5oMzB...

To help your response, a definition of wilderness and wild areas is provided - see section D & E – please complete the section which applies to your area. It would be helpful to have your replies by 30 April 2011.

If you have any questions, ideas or examples, or would like to be involved in this study, please let us know by sending an email to: info@eurosite.org. (This European Commission study runs until mid November 2011.)

European Parliament procedure file INI/2008/2210 'Wilderness in Europe' report:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P6-TA-20...