EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

NOMINATION DOSSIER ANNEX 7.3.1
"ANCIENT BEECH FORESTS OF GERMANY"
VII. Promotion and educational activities
During the 1 st phase, the JMC encourages promotional and educational activities related to
BEPFOC through the respective departments of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, UNNP
and Poloniny National Park. It provides them with the expertise reaching beyond the standard
provision of information and educational activities such as the own internet sites of the
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and the Poloniny National Park (available at
http://cbr.nature.org.ua/main.htm, www.sopsr.sk). JMC has already co-operated on settingup
a comprehensive and interactive internet site www.virginforests.sk dedicated to the research
of temperate primeval forests. Currently it is preparing an interactive internet site containing
dynamic animations of the primeval forests patterns and dynamics based on the format
developed by the Centre for Scientific Tourism in Slovakia (CSTS, available at
www.poznajachran.sk). It also heavily leans on the use of modern technology in setting up
pocket-PC and GPS-aided educational trails, whose concept and technical solutions were
developed by CSTS (available at www.poznajachran.sk/mojchodnik). Further activities include
video production, publishing and communication with the media outlets. The JMC
committee has initiated the elaboration of several diploma thesis by university students on
the most effective communication of IMS objectives to various categories, such as children,
pupils, students, parents and others. It has also begun a campaign called “Green Diplomacy”
intended to raise the BEPFOC awareness among both national and international opinion
leaders and decision makers. As a significant achievement in terms of PR, a visit of HRH
The Prince of Wales to some of the nominated properties has highlighted their value among
the local and partly also international population through the intense media coverage
(Pichler, Soroková 2005).
During the 2 nd phase, the IMP Panel will participate strongly in the PR and educational activities
on both national and international levels. Currently, works continue on a movie dealing
with the underlying connection between the primeval forests and the architectural developments
during the Middle Ages that will be offered to international TV-channels.
In order to inform the public on a broader scale and to raise awareness on beech forests as
an important natural heritage Germany opened an interactive exhibition at the 9 th Conference
of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP9), in Bonn/Germany, in
May 2008. The exhibition informs visitors on the nomination of selected German beech forest
areas as UNSECO World Natural Heritage as extension to the World Heritage property “Primeval
beech forests of the Carpathians”. At CBD-COP-9 the exhibition was introduced under
the motto “Beech forests – model examples of transnational cooperation on conserving biological
diversity”. It is designed and utilized as a travelling exhibition, which is available in
several languages, among others English, Spanish, Russian. A translation into Ukrainian and
Slovak language is planned for the future. Furthermore an internet site was introduced
(http://weltnaturerbe-buchenwaelder.de/) in order to inform on the nomination process and on
beech forests as an important natural heritage. This page is linked to the homepage of each
component part. In addition information is available by common leaflets, exhibition panels
and other information material, which was developed in the framework of a joint project on
public involvement in 2007 and 2008. Since the five component parts are not directly adjacent,
a common corporate identity scheme was decided.
In addition to the Advisory Boards of the National Parks and the Biosphere Reserve, some of
the parks have established “friends associations”, which are mainly active in raising awareness
among the local people, public relations and fundraising.
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