By Beatrice Jeschek

According to a press release by the CEEweb for Biodiversity, the European Commission calls for “wilderness” - a new approach in nature conservation in addition to the traditional management approaches.

A European Presidency conference was held on 16-17 November in Brussels to share good examples and to discuss several issues important for a Wilder Europe, such as vision, benefits, management, policy, communication and funding. Also Central and East European NGOs took part in the process.

What is wilderness?

Wilderness refers to large natural areas without human intervention, governed solely by nature. These places offer sanctuaries not only for wild plants and animals but also people lucky enough to visit such areas.

Kurt Vandenberghe, Head of Cabinet, Environment Commissioner of the European Commission, promoted the integration of wilderness approach into the EU’s reformed Agriculture Policy, Cohesion Policy and the new EU Budget.

He emphasized that while focusing on growth and jobs, it is vital for the EU to ensure that essential public goods provided by nature will not be sacrificed. Enabling natural processes to operate on large unmanaged areas is one effective tool to ensure this.


Why is wilderness relevant in Europe?

And still, wilderness in Europe has been mostly out of talk until the last decade. One of the reasons is that wilderness had been perceived to be something which belongs to other continents, whilst Europe’s strength lies mostly in its cultural heritage.

In fact, Europe hosts wilderness on less than 1% of its territory – much of which is under high pressure of human disturbance.

On the other hand, there is another 1% of European land with the potential for succeeding into true wilderness, if the initial steps of this process are assisted by restoration.

This 1% comprises natural and semi-natural areas. Europe is rewildening, which brings a unique momentum for creating space for nature. This would also bring many other benefits to local communities, landholders and European society in general such as tourism development or personal therapy.


Post-2010 Biodiversity Strategy

The European Commission’s DG Environment clearly stated its aim to introduce the wilderness concept into European policy by including it in its Post-2010 Biodiversity Strategy.

Wilderness protection will be realized in 3 pillars:

(1) strict protection of remaining wilderness areas is the priority, followed by (2) re-wilding of large natural areas as well as (3) restoration of suitable abandoned land.

A Register for Wilderness is going to be created, and specific guidelines for wilderness management within Natura 2000 sites are compiled.


You can take a look at some breathtaking photos (as used within this article) of European nature at the website of “Wild Wonders of Europe”.

Useful links:
CEEweb for Biodiversity
European Commission about Wilderness and large natural areas
Wild Europe Initiative
Pan Parks
Restoration Conference

This article was first published 25/09/2010 on maltastar.com.