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Press Release from 15 January 2010
 
Radolfzell.   While Germany is still covered under ice and snow, migratory birds in the Mediterranean area are already waiting in the wings to return to their breeding grounds. Species like starlings, the Grey Heron, Eurasian Woodcock or the Northern Lapwing are just waiting for milder weather in our country to start their journey home. “It is irresponsible that the bird hunting is in full swing in countries like Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania in January and February, and partly continues until March”, states Gabriel Schwaderer, Managing Director of the Natural Heritage Fund EuroNatur in Radolfzell. By the shoot, the most important wintering grounds and resting areas are devaluated and turned into death traps for our breeding birds instead.

The hunting season lasts too long and poaching is publicly tolerated. The shooting of protected species like cranes or the Ferruginous Duck is very common in the Balkans. When migratory birds are shot, they cannot take care to maintain their breeding stock. The EU directive for bird protection strictly forbids hunting while the birds return to their breeding grounds. “However, the hunters in the countries along the Eastern Adriatic Sea hazard the consequences of the loss of rare species in an irresponsible way. As long as the migratory routes are not safe, even the most extensive protection measures in the breeding grounds will be inefficient in the long term,” Schwaderer warns. EuroNatur requests, that the hunting season in all Balkan countries, too must stop on January 15th latest. This act would be a major contribution to maintain biodiversity in Europe.


Background Information:

• Campaign „Crime Scene Adriatic Coast - Bird Hunting on the Balkans“
• Video bird hunting in Montenegro
  

Interview partner and photos:

EuroNatur
Konstanzer Straße 22
78315 Radolfzell
Tel.: +49 7732 - 92 72 10
Fax: +49 7732 - 92 72 22
E-Mail: info@euronatur.org
Internet: www.euronatur.org
Contact: Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby
Press contact: Katharina Grund

More about the photo competition "Nature Treasures in Europe 2010"

Press release from 6 November 2009

Radolfzell. ”Pulling down the Iron Curtain did not only liberate people all over Europe but it also opened new perspectives for nature conservation”, states Gabriel Schwaderer in Radolfzell, Managing Director of the European Nature Heritage Fund, at the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 2009. “The opening of the borders between East and West created a unique opportunity to put the greatest gems of nature in Eastern Germany under nature conservation on a large-scale”, says Schwaderer. EuroNatur was one of the driving forces for the development of the National Park Programme in Eastern Germany. 

Enforcing this programme was a huge success for nature conservation and literally a last minute rescue: In the last months before the end of the DDR (German Democratic Republic) EuroNatur received a cry for help from East Germany. Official and private environmentalists were feverishly working on a National Park Programme, which needed to get approved of at all costs before the dissolution of the DDR parliament. EuroNatur acted fast and in a non-bureaucratic way. The Nature Heritage Fund not only provided conceptional and moral support but also provided material help by sending furnishings, PCs and vehicles. A true successful aid organisation: The last resolution of the last meeting of the DDR Council of Ministers was the National Park Programme. It concluded the final conservation of 14 regions as “a continuous contribution for nature conservation in a unified Germany and to secure the natural heritage in Europe”.

For several years EuroNatur has supported the development of the Müritz National Park in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Natural Heritage Fund was already active behind the Iron Curtain before the German reunification. For example they had started to work on the protection of precious natural paradises like the wetlands along the rivers Danube, Drau and Mur, which today belong to the “European Green Belt”.


Background Information:

• Find out more about the “European Green Belt” and EuroNatur projects in the Green Belt of the Balkans.

For further questions please contact:

EuroNatur
Konstanzer Straße 22
78315 Radolfzell
Fon +49 7732 - 92 72 10
Fax +49 7732 - 92 72 22
e-Mail: info@euronatur.org
www.euronatur.org
Contact: Gabriel Schwaderer
Press contact: Katharina Grund

According to the Habitat Directive all member states must sufficiently examine all plans and projects, which may have a significant impact on protected areas, independent of the location of the project. This is not happening in Bulgaria, which is documented in three more accusatory letters referring to direct interferences in protected areas. For example an extensive ski centre will be built in the protected area of the Pirin mountains. The development project was already partly approved by the Bulgarian authorities before the impact on the respective species and habitats was adequately examined. Along the river Vaya near the Black Sea essential habitats in the middle of the reserve Emine-Irakli are under threat of destruction by building activities. The situation is very similar in the community of Tsarevo in the South East of the country: parts of the nature preserve Strandzha are at risk of being sacrificed to tourism. No impact assessments prior to the building activities were executed either in this case.

“Although only 2.5 percent of the EU area is allotted to Bulgaria it is the home of almost 70 percent of protected birds in Europe, and about 40 percent of the protected habitats are located in this country. The extraordinary diversity of species must be legally protected – only this way can the wellbeing of the economy and society be secured for the future. I expect from Bulgaria that it will reconcile its laws with the European regulations and above all make sure that they are duly applied to in practice and locally,” says the EU Environmental Commissioner Stavros Dimas. EuroNatur will continue to support their Bulgarian partners in bringing  breaches against the European Nature Protection Laws to the public eye and protesting against them effectively.

Link to the European Commission

Press Release from 7 October 2009

Radolfzell.   Just like every year, this autumn tens of thousands of migratory birds rest on the island of Tilos in the Dodekanes. Amongst them one finds rare breeding birds from Germany like the Golden Oriole, Red-backed Shrike, Marsh Warbler and the Lesser Whitethroat. By having banned bird hunting on their island for more than 15 years – despite massive pressure of the hunting lobby from outside – the inhabitants of Tilos, an island located near Rhodos, also protect bird life in Germany. “Tilos is an excellent example to show how undisturbed resting areas along migration routes contribute to an effective bird protection”, says Professor Dr. Hartmut Vogtmann, President of EuroNatur. Today, at the Bodensee island Mainau, the Greek community Tilos was awarded with the EuroNatur prize for their long-time commitment in bird protection. On behalf of the citizens of Tilos, mayor Dr. Anastasios Aliferis, accepted the unremunerated award.

Tilos, however, is only one of the few positive examples. On other Greek islands but also on Cyprus, Malta and along the Eastern Adriatic coast the situation is devastating. Intense bird hunting causes in many countries that the essential resting areas near and in the sea become death traps. “This makes it even more important to have positive role models like Tilos to create hope and stimulate encouragement to follow their example”, compliments Professor Vogtmann the award. The granting of the EuroNatur Award 2009 to the island of Tilos is a clear sign within the EuroNatur campaign “Scene of crime Adriatic Sea – Bird Hunting in the Balkans”. As such the little island impressively shows that there are convincining alternatives to bird hunting.

“Banning bird hunting has created a solid foundation for a socially responsible and ecologically compatible tourism on Tilos”, continues Vogtmann. With its manifold biodiversity and calm nature the island attracts nature lovers all year. The diversity of breeding birds alone is spectactular: Eleonora’s Falcon, Bonelli’s Eagle, Long-Legged Buzzard, Audouin’s Gull and European Roller can be watched all year. Gentle tourism creates an important source of income for the insulars all year long. Together with its partners EuroNatur is working towards this development also in other project areas but especially in the Balkans.

Background information:
EuroNatur Award: Previous award winners of the EuroNatur Award are amongst others Prof. Dr. Klaus Toepfer, Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth, Prince Charles, Michail Gorbatschow, Nelson Mandela and Dr. Hans Bibelriether. The EuroNatur Award is unremunerated. This award honours excellent achievements for Nature Conservation.


For further information and photos please feel free to contact us.

EuroNatur
Konstanzer Strasse 22
78315 Radolfzell
fon +49 7732 927210
fax +49 7732 927222
e-Mail: info@euronatur.org
www.euronatur.org
Contact: Gabriel Schwaderer
Press contact: Katharina Grund

Press Release from 29 September 2009

Radolfzell. The Ferruginous Duck is one of the most rare breeding birds in Germany.  Hence the shooting of hundreds of Ferruginous Ducks continuing during their breeding season, as it is happening in Serbia and Croatia these days, was fiercely criticised by the European Nature Heritage Fund EuroNatur. Although this species is internationally protected by the Bern Convention and must neither be hunted in Croatia nor Serbia, bird conservationists’ partners report on disastrous situations in the wetlands of both countries. Amongst them are the Association for Bird Conservation and Research Vojvodina and the Croatian Association for Bird and Nature Conservation who confirm with pictures the hunting of large numbers of ducks.

“These hunting activities mean more ‘bleeding’ for the Central European population of Ferruginous Ducks and must be stopped immediately,” demands Gabriel Schwaderer, General Manager of EuroNatur. On the 1st of September the bird hunting officially starts in Croatia and Serbia. “If the hunting of such rare species like the Ferruginous Ducks during breeding season is permitted, it opens the floodgates to illegal hunting because allegedly missed shots get out of control,” says Mr. Schwaderer. Already in March of this year, EuroNatur has therefore requested in writing to the Ministers of Forestry and Agriculture of both countries to ban the hunting during the breeding season of the ducks until the 1st of October.

The importance of these actions is strikingly documented in a video named “Duck Hunting near Carska Bara” in which hunters openly show illegally shot birds . These pictures attract Italian hunting tourists who travel to the Eastern Adriatic Coast and its back-country for bird hunting due to the tightened controls in their own country. In the hunting video 21 dead ducks are seen, more than half of them are Ferruginous Ducks, amongst them also a squab duck. The video clearly documents that the hunters have a total lack of understanding that this act is unlawful. 

Within the EuroNatur campaign “Crime Scene Adriatic Coast – Bird Hunting on the Balkans” EuroNatur has already collected comprehensive material about the illegal hunting of Ferruginous Ducks on the Eastern Adriatic Coast. “We must impose pressure on an international basis to improve the devastating situation for migratory birds like the Ferruginous Ducks on the Eastern Adriatic Coast. If you can hear shots on the Adriatic Coast, it’s going to be quiet in our local wetlands”, says Mr. Schwaderer. EuroNatur demands amongst others the implementation of hunting ban areas across all essential breeding and gathering areas for the Ferruginous Duck along the Eastern Adriatic Coast.

Background information:

• The video “Duck Hunting near Carska Bara” can be watched here
• In Germany there can be found very few Ferruginous Duck couples at lake Bodensee and very rarely on the lakes of Brandenburg and Saxony. With only one to two proofs of offsprings per year this species is seriously endangered and depends on a solid and constant population in Croatia and Serbia. The Ferruginous Ducks is on the international Red List.
• More information on the campaign „Crime Scene Adriatic Coast – Bird Hunting on the Balkans” can be found here
  

For photo material and interviews please feel free to contact Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby, Project Leader at EuroNatur.

EuroNatur
Konstanzer Straße 22
78315 Radolfzell
Fon +49 7732 - 92 72 10
Fax +49 7732 - 92 72 22
e-Mail: info@euronatur.org
www.euronatur.org
Contact: Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby
Press contact: Katharina Grund