Radolfzell, Germany. EuroNatur, Youth Center Livno and WWF, applaud the new designation of Livansko polje, the largest karst plain in Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Eastern Europe, as a wetland of international importance, under the International Ramsar Convention.

The 45,868 hectare Livanjsko Polje, near the southwestern town of Livno in Bosnia and Herzegovina, contains an impressive network of surface and underground water bodies, including rivers, springs, sinkholes, lakes and oxbow lakes.

It is the largest wetland of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with important populations of rare birds and significant communities including corn crake, Montagu’s harrier, lesser spotted eagle, redshank, snipe and great bittern.

Livanjsko Polje vegetation is a very special mix of northern European grasslands and forest as well as Mediterranean plants, while large areas are covered with oak, ash and alder forest important to conservation.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina’s karst areas are among the best preserved in Europe but they are still unprotected and some are directly threatened by water extraction and unsustainable use of the resources. The protection of Livanjsko Polje is not only vital for maintaining its unique natural assets but will also make all the difference between short term and perpetual use of the area’s resources to benefit local people.” said Francesca Antonelli, Head of the Freshwater programme at WWF Mediterranean.

The riches of Livanjsko Polje is threatened by unappropriate land use and water management. New planned threats include flood areas being dried out, with water being collected and kept in reservoirs or transferred through impervious canals or tunnels eventually putting in peril traditional economic activities, mostly based on livestock and cheese and which currently sustain the livelihood of some 600 families.

Livanjski Sir, the cheese from the site, is the most famous product and a good reason to preserve the temperated grassland. The traditional land-use is important as the Dalmatian coast in Croatia receives its drinking water from the upper Cetina basin with Livanjsko Polje as the key wetland.

EuroNatur, Youth Center Livno and WWF fully support the decision by the Bosnian government to designate Livanjsko Polje under the International Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This new site will be added to the two sites already protected by the Convention in the country . The international recognition gained through Ramsar nomination is giving a chance to the long term preservation and sustainable use of the goods and services provided by this unique ecosystem.

“EuroNatur together with YCL and WWF is happy that the government ensures that the “wise use of wetlands ” principle of Ramsar is taken for the further development of Livanjsko Polje, e.g. in the spatial planning process. We also recommend that Livanjsko Polje will be developed as an unqiue part of the national protected area system”, added Martin Schneider-Jacoby from EuroNatur.

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Further information:
EuroNatur
Phone: 0049 - 7732 - 92 72 21
Fax: 0049 - 7732 - 92 72 22
E-Mail: martin.schneider-jacoby@euronatur.org
www.euronatur.org
Contact: Martin Schneider-Jacoby



END NOTES:

• A karst polje (translates as plain or field) is a typical flat karstic area created by the solution of limestone and filled with unpermeable sedimentary deposits and often flooded in rainy seasons.

• The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands — signed in 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iran — is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are currently 146 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1,458 wetland sites, totalling over 125.4 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

• Member countries of the Ramsar treaty are obliged to: manage all wetlands in a sustainable manner, promoting the wise use of all wetlands within their territory; consult with other Parties about the implementation of the Convention, especially with regard to trans-frontier wetlands, shared water systems, shared species, and development; and designate wetlands that meet the criteria for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance for conservation.

• Satellite pictures, paintings, photos of landscapes and animals as well as topographic and historic maps of the Livanjsko Polje are displayed in the Gorica Museum of the Franciscan Monastery in Livno.

Read more and see the winning pictures

Press release from 30 June 2008

Radolfzell. A spirit of optimism pervades EuroNatur. This internal development is now also shown to the public and the foundation is presented in a new appearance, e.g. via a new web presence or a new logo which concentrates completely on the name of the foundation. “The name says it all at EuroNatur. Like hardly any other organisation, our projects focus upon nature conservation in Europe”, says Prof. Dr. Hartmut Vogtmann, president of EuroNatur.

For more than 20 years, EuroNatur has actively promoted nature conservation in Europe. Since the beginning of 2008, Prof. Vogtmann, former president of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, has led EuroNatur, and several changes have been introduced. “EuroNatur has already achieved a lot for the conservation of the nature in Europe. With funds of more than EUR 40 million, we have contributed to the establishment of protected areas in more than 15 European countries so far. But still species become extinct. To stop this development, we have set our objectives and tasks more clearly. Thus, we have become more powerful”, says Vogtmann. “An essential part of our work is to connect people and nature. This is the only way that our efforts to protect wild animals and their habitats in Europe can be successful in the long-term”, he continues. Therefore, EuroNatur creates an international network of scientists, environmentalists, farmers, politicians and businessmen. The main emphasis is put on the Balkans, where political changes give a unique opportunity to set the course for nature protection.


Background information about EuroNatur:
EuroNatur was founded in 1987, the European Year of the Environment, by the Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), and the German Environmental Aid (DUH) as a non-profit organisation under civil law. A voluntary presiding committee together with Gabriel Schwader, executive director, and Lutz Ribbe, head of the office for nature conservation policies, lead the foundation. EuroNatur has 19 salaried employees. As several work part-time, this equates 15 full-time positions. The headquarters are situated in Radolfzell; the office for nature conservation policies is located in Rheinbach near Bonn.
The organisation EuroNatur-Service-GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EuroNatur and is situated in Radolfzell, too. It provides dispatch and other services, publishes the magazine euronatur and has a mail-order calendar and book store.

Further information:
EuroNatur
Phone: 0049 - 7732 - 92 72 10
Fax: 0049 - 7732 - 92 72 22
E-Mail: katharina.grund@euronatur.org
www.euronatur.org
Contact: Gabriel Schwaderer
Public relations: Katharina Grund

Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna (FWFF)

Furthermore, these twelve and a further 25 pictures will be shown at the exhibition in Freyung organized by NaturVision, which will open on September 19 with the awards ceremony of this photography competition. A photo show will also be printed in EuroNatur's magazine 3/2008, published at the end of September.

The photography competition is kindly supported by Deutsche Lufthansa.

More about the Nature Photography Competition

Agricultural research should focus on small-scale farmers in developing countries, who account for a large portion of global food production. "We should produce more, yet in a different way", says Guilhem Calvo of UNESCO'S Organization for Education, Science and Culture.

Small-scale farmers pay the price

Industrial farming in monocultures and with genetically engineered plants has increased productivity, experts write, however at the expense of small-scale farmers, workers, rural communities and the environment. That is why the IAASTD calls for the need to adopt a "multifunctional agriculture" focusing on the preservation and renewal of natural resources such as water, soil, forests and biodiversity. Around 2.6 billion people live on farming worldwide. An increasing industrialization of agriculture, the use of chemicals as well as poor training and research in the field of sustainable farming methods result in an overexploitation and leaching of many soils.

The experts' report thus supports the view of EuroNatur and many other nature conservation organizations, according to which a new agro-political approach towards ecological farming methods and decentralized structures would not only mean a basic contribution to the preservation of biodiversity in man-made environment, but also the only way to ensure a sustainable development of rural areas.

The main topic to be discussed is the implementation of the EU-network of protected areas "Natura 2000" and their potential for a sustainable regional development, as well as the chance to preserve endangered species such as bears, otters or bats.

In the scope of the seminar the international participants will also visit the Rila National Park and the Dragoman wetlands northwest of Sofia. Green Balkans has assisted EuroNatur in organizing the event.

Each year, the initiative "NatuRegio-Trainees for Nature" which is coordinated by the Alfred Toepfer Academy for nature conservation (NNA) enables ten young conservationists from Bulgaria or Romania to prepare and implement each one specific project of nature conservation and regional development in their home country. Being partner in this project, EuroNatur assists with contacts and know-how. The ten selected conservationists are invited to a 3-months' practical stay in Germany, where they prepare their projects.

The advertisement for the next trainee year 2008/2009 has already been published; deadline for application is May 10, 2008.

This project is fostered by the German Environmental Foundation "Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU" the "Alfred Toepfer Foundation" F.V.S..

Further information on the project www.naturegio-bg-ro.de

With the support of the Foundation "Heidehof" on European level and together with their Spanish partners, EuroNatur will work towards a modification of this regulation, for which no plausible reason from the scientific point of view exists. Only the disposal plants are benefiting from this regulation, which represents a lucrative business.