The Green Belt as a European Ecological Network strengths and gaps

Uwe Riecken, Peter Finck
THE GERMAN GREEN BELT AS BACKBONE OF THE NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL NETWORK
THE GERMAN GREEN BELT AS BACKBONE OF THE
NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL NETWORK
Uwe Riecken, Peter Finck
German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
Department for Habitat Protection and Landscape Ecology
Konstantinstr. 110, DE-53179 Bonn, Germany
Uwe.Riecken@BfN.de, Peter.Finck@BfN.de
ABSTRACT
Since 2002 there is a legal obligation in Germany to implement a national ecological network
on at least 10 % of the national territory. Already in 2001 a working group consisting of experts from
the German Federal States (Bundesländer) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
started to develop criteria to identify the core areas and corridors of this network. In three scientific
studies these criteria have been applied to identify these components based on available field data
covering the entire German territory. The area of the German Green Belt had been mapped during
2001 and 2002. Based on these results it can clearly be shown that the Green Belt fulfills the defined
criteria for being a ‘site of national importance for the ecological network’ and that in some parts it is
the only remaining natural structure in the countryside. Therefore the German Green Belt is an
important backbone of the national ecological network.
1 INTRODUCTION
Since 2002 there is a legal obligation in Germany to implement an ecological network
on at least 10 % of the national territory (Article 20 of the National Nature Conservation Act
of 2009). Article 21 states that the objectives of this network are the general protection of all
indigenous species and their habitats as well as the conservation of ecological interactions and
exchange processes in the landscape. It shall also contribute to the coherence of the Natura
2000 network in Germany. Furthermore the components of this network have to be legally
protected. Already in 2001 a working group consisting of experts from the German Federal
Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the respective institutions of the German Federal
States (Bundesländer) was implemented to develop common criteria for the identification of
components of a national ecological network and to design guidelines for the implementation
of this network [1]. Main criteria for the identification of ‘sites of national importance for the
ecological network’ are the quality of areas (inter alia: size), the natural characteristics, the
integrity of consisting habitat complexes, the degree of fragmentation as well as the
occurrence of target species [2, 3].
The German Green Belt is considered to be a major component of the national
ecological network. But can this hypothesis be verified or is it just wishful thinking by nature
conservationists involved and engaged in the protection of the Green Belt? In the first part of
this paper a brief overview will be given on existing data on the national ecological network
as well as the implementation of the legal obligations resulting from the German nature
conservation law. In the second part the possible function of the Green Belt as part of the
German national ecological network will be analyzed using available information and the
common criteria developed for the implementation of the national ecological network.
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