EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

eech forests in German national parks and
biosphere reserves. Other remaining valuable
beech forests in Germany are intended
to be preserved within the scope of a comprehensive
system of protected areas.
Further more, it is Germany’s intention to
meet its globally outstanding responsibility
to preserve the beech forests and nominate
the best preserved beech forest areas in the
exis ting biological range as “Ancient Beech
Forests of Germany” as an extension to the
World Natural Heritage “Primeval Beech
Forests of the Carpathians”.
Hence, a feasibility study was conducted in
the course of the eff orts toward nomi nation
(HOFFMANN & PANEK 2006) to
analyse all potentially suitable beech forests
in Germany according to a uniform scheem
examining the wholeness and intactness
of their natural attributes by assessing size,
representativity (representation of signifi
cant features and processes), protection
status and management aiming at non intervention
policy as well as factors aff ecting the
sites. Th e results of this assessement for
the individual beech forest areas were compared
within al fi nal analysis focusing
on the respective World Heritage potential.
Th e analysis revealed a clear order of prefe rence
for the selection of the individual
component parts for a serial World Heritage
nomination of German beech forests.
Th is resulted in the Schorfheide-Chorin
Biosphere Reserve with Grumsin as well as
the Jasmund and Müritz National Parks
being recommended for the planar area. For
the colline-submontane zone, the Hainich
National Park was regarded as the best
representative of the rich in species Central
European beech forests, while the Kellerwald-Edersee
National Park was seen as the
best representative for poor in species Central
European acidic beech forests.
3.d Integrity
With the “Ancient Beech Forests of Germany”,
the best old-growth beech forests of
Germany are nominated as repre sentatives
of the “Central European Beech Forests”
with the highest degrees of maturity and
nativeness. Indicators include forest continuity,
duration of the absence from use,
structural diversity, com pleteness of natural
dynamic processes, fractions in primeval
forest relics, favour able buff er and networking
potentials, and representativity for
the biogeographic region of the “Subatlantic
Central European Beech Forests” and the
ongoing ecological processes follow ing the last
ice age (fi g. 3.1).
As is the case with all European natural areas,
the beech forests of the nominated component
parts are not completely un aff ected
by human activity and, like all natural areas,
are undergoing change. Especially in the
last 1,000 years, in general the beech forests’
ecosys tems have been impacted by human
activity throughout Europe, and partly
drastically so. As compared to the potential
natural distribution area, the present area has
shrunken by 90% in Central Europe alone.
Th e primeval forests in the West and
Central European centre of distribution of
the Euro pean beech forests have largely been
eliminated. Genuine primeval forests with
3. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION
The beech forests of the
nominated “Ancient Beech
Forests of Germany” are
the best old growth relics
at the heart of beech forest
distribution.
Natural beech forest in
Kellerwald
Nationale
Naturlandschaften
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