EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

NOMINATION DOSSIER ANNEX 7.2.7
"ANCIENT BEECH FORESTS OF GERMANY"
a. The idea and purpose of the declaration of a National Park can not be brought in line
with the administrative and political objectives of a limitation in time of regulations:
According to its legal definition, a National Park aims at the development of greater
parts of its area towards “a state which ensures the undisturbed progression, as far
as possible, of natural processes in their natural dynamics." (§ 24 (1) no. 3 German
Nature Conservation Act / § 22 (1) no. 3 Hessian Nature Conservation Act). Hence,
the Ordinance of the National Park foresees to relinquish 75% of its area to natural
processes (§ 2 (1) of the Ordinance). Such development is aligned to long-term
processes. This is ensured by the amended Ordinance.
b. Since February 2007 the National Park Kellerwald-Edersee ( = area of the nominated
component part "Kellerwald" and its buffer zone) is part of the joint nomination
process of the German Länder Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western
Pommerania and Thuringia for inscription as World Heritage of particularly close-tonature
beech forests in the framework of the World Heritage Convention. With the
consent of the Ukraine and the Slovak Republic the extension of the already inscribed
World heritage "Beech forests of the Carpathians" by the five German component
parts is brought forward. To achieve this goal, a permanent legal regulation unlimited
in time for the NP is indispensable. This is ensured by the amended Ordinance.
c. as stipulated in § 1 (1), last sentence of the Ordinance, the National Park shall fulfil
the criteria of category II of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources (IUCN) for achieving an international classification. The omission
of the limitation in time is a cornerstone in the process of classification.
With the new ordinance, the required legal measures (Art. 5 d of the World Heritage
Convention) for protection, conservation and rehabilitation of the heritage are realized.
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