EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

Criteria under which property is nominated
(itemized criteria)
The serial nomination “Beech Primeval Forests of the Carpathians” is proposed for
inscription under the following criteria:
Criterium (ix): The serial nomination “Beech Primeval Forests of the Carpathians”
contains outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological
processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial (forest) ecosystems and communities
of their plants and animals. As a natural feature, it consists of a biological formation – climax
temperate beech primeval forests with largely monospecific canopy. The development of this
formation is an indispensable part of the phylogenetic history of the genus Fagus, which is,
given the distribution of Fagus in the Northern Hemisphere, globally significant. The
nominated series does most completely and comprehensively reflects the ecological patterns
of pure stands of European beech, which is the most important constituent of forests in the
Temperate Broad-leaf Forest Biome, in the Middle European Forest (2.11.05) biogeographical
province and partly in the biome of mixed mountain systems. The value of the nominated
beech forests does consist both in the status of European beech as originally the main forest
constituent (after the the return of tree species banished from Central Europe during the ice
ages was complete) in Europe, but also in their intrinsic ecological patterns as seen from the
viewpoint ecology, i. e. complete stadial and developmental cycles that include all
developmental stages. The serial nomination features unique characteristics of Europe’s
primary, indigenous, undisturbed, unique, complex (and therefore outstanding) forest
ecosystems with Europe’s most typical tree species as their main edificator. At the same time,
it is the last best conserved remnant of monodominant beech forests that once covered large
tracts of Europe. The characteristics include the absolute hegemony of European beech, its
competitiveness, autoregulation and homeostasis capacity and adaptation to changing
environmental conditions. The serial nomination represents highly productive and extremely
stable ecosystems on mesotrophic substrates of cristalline rocks, flysh, calcareous rock
(limestones) and volcanic rock (andesite), with no other tree species able to compete with the
beech trees on a significant scale. The overall site conditions allow the beech to reach heights
up to 56 m – tallest European beech trees measured. The formation is sustained by
undisturbed biogeochemical cycles as an indispensable part of this formation.
The textural composition of these primeval forests fluctuates very little during their 230–
250 years-long developmental cycle and the aerial representation of individual developmental
stages is balanced over areas as small as 20–30 ha. European beech population is so well
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