Science and spontaneous restoration of wilderness in Europe
Vlado Vancura, European Wilderness Society, Tamsweg (AT)
This presentation is focusing on current science approaches to spontaneous wilderness restoration and contribution of this approach to building up the European wilderness preservation system.The ambitious of this subject illustrates how scientifically verified knowledge may be applied to pragmatic and ongoing spontaneous wilderness restoration, and perspectives of possible future research subjects on using this approach in wilderness and in ecosystem restoration. It is concluded that when implementing of this approach for ecological restoration the following points must be considered: setting clear aims; evaluation of environmental site conditions; deciding whether spontaneous succession is an appropriate way to achieve the aims; prediction of successional development; monitoring of the results. The need for interdisciplinary approaches and communication between scientists, engineers and decision-makers is emphasized. Wilderness represents a vital element of Europe's natural and cultural heritage. In addition to its intrinsic value, it offers the opportunity for people to experience the emotional quality of nature in the widest experiential sense. These experience go beyond mere physical and visual attributes, and have particular its psychological impact. European wilderness also provides important economic, social and environmental benefits, including ecosystem services for local communities, landholders and society at large. The concept of wilderness has gained considerable momentum in Europe during recent years. A political milestone was the adoption of the "European Parliament Resolution on Wilderness in Europe” in February 2009, which calls on the European Commission to (1) develop a clear definition of wilderness, (2) mandate the European Environment Agency to map existing wilderness areas in Europe, (3) undertake a study on the values and benefits of wilderness, (4) develop a EU wilderness strategy, (5) catalyse the development of new wilderness areas (restoration or "rewilding”), (6) promote the values of wilderness together with NGOs & local communities. Many aspects of this call have been already implemented or are in the process. On the top of that several other important aspects of wilderness conservation such as Framework for wilderness values in Europe or The European Wilderness Quality Standard and Audit System popped up as new issues.