The Giant Panda – A Nature Conservation Icon in the New Millennium
As a model flagship species, the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) has become a nature conservation icon worldwide. The popular species is confined to south-central China. Currently, it occurs in portions of six isolated mountain ranges (Minshan, Qinling, Qionglai, Liangshan, Daxiangling, and Xiaoxiangling) in Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan province.
Nature Conservation 3/2011 — 7. 10. 2011 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
The Lakefield National Park – A Godforsaken Nook in Queensland
The Lakefield National Park, second-largest national park in Queensland, Australia, features spectacular wetlands and extensive river systems. The park stretches from Princess Charlotte Bay in the north to the town of Laura, covering 5,370 km2. The dominant vegetation in the park is eucalypt woodland and gallery forest associated with waterways.
Nature Conservation 2/2011 — 11. 7. 2011 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
The Glacier National Park
The author does not describe beauties of the Yellowstone or Yosemite NP in the western part of the U.S.A., but takes readers to the Sun in the Glacier National Park in Montana. In 1932, both the Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park were declared as the worlds first International Peace Park under the name Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Nature Conservation 1/2011 — 11. 4. 2011 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
In Nagoya, Copenhagen Did Not Happen
The 10thmeeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, from 18 to 29 October 2010, finally achieved its three inter-linked goals: adoption of a new ten year Strategic Plan to guide international and national efforts to save biodiversity through enhanced actions to meet the CBD objectives; a resource mobilization strategy that provides the way forward to a substantial increase to current levels of official development assistance (ODA) in support of biodiversity; and a new international protocol on access to and sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources of the planet.
Nature Conservation 1/2011 — 11. 4. 2011 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
Prokleté hory nejsou vůbec prokleté
The Damned (Prokletije) Mts., a mountain range in the Balkans that extends from northern Albania to southwestern Kosovo and eastern Montenegro, is no doubt among European areas to the smallest extent influenced by humans. Visitors have only recently discovered its beauty, but it is just a matter of time where also the forgotten part of the Balkans will be dramatically changed. Nevertheless, the landscape is being used in the same way as dozens or probably centuries ago, i.e.by livestock grazing. Small field patches very closed to human settlements provide local inhabitants with basic food. At more remote sites, grazing has been irregular and the landscape has been relatively well healthy. While a botanist meets species-rich plant communities and wild plant populations which cannot be found elsewhere in Europe, forests as well as fauna have been preserved in a rather worse status there. The remnants of forests are mostly beech ones, somewhere with hornbeam, spruce or pine trees. They have been managed as coppice or sucker growths: therefore, also because of broken forest edges, many passerines and other small birds nest in such habitats. The Damned Mountains harbours many endemic or relict wildlife species (e.g., the alpine plant Wulfenia baldaccii)or those considered being critically threatened across the whole continent.
Nature Conservation 6/2010 — 28. 12. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
Pamukkale – the good end of one story?
Pamukkale, meaning „Cotton Castle“ in Turkish, is a famous natural site in the Denizli Province in south-western Turkey, being one of the most magnificent natural monument worldwide.
Nature Conservation 5/2010 — 27. 10. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
Operation, Management and Protection of Show Caves in the Federal Republic of Germany
The author presents the knowledge from a study trip organized the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic to twelve show caves in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in September 2009.
Nature Conservation 5/2010 — 27. 10. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
Wadi Rum – the Place of Lawrence of Arabia
The development of nature conservation and protected areas in the Middle East has started as late as during the second half of the 20thcentury. One of the most important large-size protected areas in that region is the Protected Area Wadi Rum in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Nature Conservation 4/2010 — 14. 9. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
Tree Sucker Forests in the Southern Carpathian Landscape
The southern part of the Romanian Banat (western part of the country) has been inhabited by Czechs since 1823. The regions historical development strongly influenced the present state of forests there.
Nature Conservation 4/2010 — 14. 9. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf
The Doñana National Park
The Doñana National Park, also called Coto de Doñana, is located in Andalusia (Spain) and covers 543 km2. It protects the Guadalquivir River Delta region where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean. There are five main ecosystem types within the park.
Nature Conservation 3/2010 — 22. 6. 2010 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf