Spontaneous forest recovery in Majella National Park is just astonishing. One can observe it if you visit this area more times with let’s say at least with one decade break in between. However, even better
Wilderness
To Spare or Share Wilderness
An interesting article was written by Fred Pearce: Sparing vs. Sharing: The Great Debate Over How to Protect Nature, was published in December 2018 at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. That text
What is Wilderness character?
What characterizes Wilderness? For those who care passionately about Wilderness, it seems that this question is an important part of their agenda Especially in the U.S., Wilderness character is an important topic, because the central
Wilderness is a window to the past
When I was young, my great-grandfather, a forester, told me that this Wild Valley used to be even more wild when he was my age. No roads, no logging, no air pollution. Even hunters only
EU continues to overfish marine Wilderness
The European Union sets annual fishing quota in the “exclusive economic zone” (the sea zone belonging to EU member states) for all member states. In 2013, the European parliament committed to lower quotas to sustainable
Challenges to protect Slovak Paradise
The European Wilderness Society and Slovak Paradise National Park have a successful partnership for several years. Slovak paradise proved that they do not only commit to manage this iconic protected area well, but are also
Slovakian Wilderness under threat
Slovakia has a great potential to become an important partner in the quest to protect European Wilderness. There are some areas in the country under strict non-intervention regime already for several decades. According official statistics,
2020 World Wilderness Conference to be held in March in Jaipur, India
Since 1977, the Wild Foundation has been organizing a World Wilderness Congress for the purpose of providing a public forum to discuss and plan the preservation of nature and healthy human relationships with it. This
Challenge to protect European forests
European forests are under extreme pressure. We can read almost daily the stories that somewhere in Europe forests are dying, logged and disappearing. The initial event leading to this is usually a large scale wind blow, fire or snowfall, which is extensive killing
Forests and Wilderness crucial in the climate change combat
Trees are widely known to be important carbon sequestrators with a great potential to combat climate change. A recent study showed that planting one trillion trees could suck up two thirds of global carbon emissions.
Majella Wilderness hosts ancient black pine
An extraordinary black pine of more than 900-year old is growing in Majella Wilderness, embedded in Majella National Park in Italy. The pine could survive that many centuries because it was hidden in a remote,
European rivers threatened by more and more dams
A new report on the effects of damming on European rivers has highlighted how rivers are saturated with dams. Currently, there are already 21 387 dams on the continent, with another 278 under construction. In
Importance of peat bogs as CO2 storage
A study from Chazdon and Brancalion in 2019 revealed that newly planted trees could absorb most of the human made CO2-emissions. The study states that nothing is as effective in mitigating the climate overheating as
Barriers to the expansion of Wilderness in Europe
We can still find large continuous natural areas in many parts of Europe, which are little affected by human activities. Such areas are for example located in Slovakia, Austria, Italy or Slovenia. Here we find
Natural wonder on a tri-border: Kongura Wilderness
The autumn of 2019, auditors of European Wilderness Society visited a number of protected areas in Bulgaria. The most Southern point reached was Kongura Strict Reserve, embedded into Belasitsa Nature Park. The Reserve was created
Scenic nature in Ali Botush Wilderness
Ali Botush is a Strict Reserve in the Slavyanka mountain range, located directly on the border of Bulgaria and Greece. It was established in 1951 to protect the largest forests of the endemic Bosnian pine
Exploring the jungle of Mantaritsa WILDForest
Mantaritsa Strict Reserve was established in 1968 to showcase and protect an old, unmanaged forest ecosystem in the Western Rhodope Mountains. During their visit in Bulgaria, auditors of the European Wilderness Society paid a visit
European Wilderness Network: The wildest places in Europe!
In the past years, more than 41 Wilderness Areas from 17 countries joined the European Wilderness Network. The European Wilderness Network ist therefore Europe’s and one of the worlds largest Network of Wilderness areas. The
Wilderness found in Cervenata stena: the land of caves
In autumn 2019, European Wilderness Society auditors travelled to Bulgaria to seek new potential Wilderness. One treasure found was Cervenata Stena Strict Reserve. The Chervenata Stena (Red Wall) Strict Nature Reserve is a unique piece
In addition to tropical rainforest – mangroves are the excellent carbon storers
Mangrove forests are crucially important ecosystems circling the shores in the tropics, covering about 22 million hectares. However, they are under strong deforestation pressure, as 20% to 35% of all forests have been lost since