EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

Taken together, it can be said in global comparison
that the conservation status of
nemoral deciduous forests is rather critical
also outside of Europe as a consequence
of the loss of wooded areas and degradation
of the remaining woodland. Exceptions are
but a few individual national parks, World
Heritage sites, and the Caspian deciduous
forests. Forests housing Fagus species are
mostly of the mixed type without the beech
being dominant at a large scale. Where
the forest structure is determined by Fagus,
the areas are located in mountain ranges
as compared to the component parts of the
extension nomination (Fagus orientalis and
Fagus crenata) with an entirely diff erent
forest history as compared to forests dominated
by Fagus sylvatica. Due to the glacial
period that shaped Central Europe north
of the Alps and, in particular, to the re -
colonisation having taken an idiosyncratic
course, the evolution ary processes in the
Central European beech forests contrast
strongly with other continents.
Area in 1,000 ha
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Romania
Germany
France
Slovenia
3.c.2 European beech
forests
From the 26.7% of forest area in Europe, the
boreal conifer zone occupies the largest
portion. At present, the fraction in the nonconiferous
forest region is markedly lower.
In the absence of human interven tion,
major parts of Central Europe, in total
amounting to approx. 910,000 km 2 , would
be occupied by Fagus sylvatica forests, with
Germany accounting for a potential 26%
(BOHN & GOLLUB 2007), as the country
is at the centre of the global range of
Fagus sylvatica distribution (fi g. 3.4). In a
potential natural vegetation, more than
two-thirds of Germany’s land area would
be covered by beech forests communities,
with F. sylvatica still showing some potential
for expansion (WILMANNS 1989,
LEUSCHNER 1998, CZAJKOWS KI et
al. 2006). In the north, the European
beech forests are mainly found in the lowlands
while in the south of Europe reaching
far into the montane zones. Th e entire
lowlands from Northern France to Southern
Sweden and North-eastern Poland as well
Beech forest Total forest area
Bulgaria
Slovac Republic
Austria
Greece
Italy
Switzerland
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Denmark
Belgium
Poland
3. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION
Netherlands
Fig. 3.4: Present forests / beech
forests in Europe (according to
FAO 2003, HOFFMANN
& PANEK 2006)
Beech forest portions in the
United Kingdom, Denmark,
Belgium, Poland, and the
Netherlands are too small for
them to be identified in the
figure. Details on the beech
forest portions of Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
Luxemburg, Macedonia,
Moldavia, Sweden, Serbia-
Montenegro, Spain, and Ukraine
are not known.
Nationale
Naturlandschaften
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