Ecosystem Management Excursions

July 29, 2011

During the week of 18 to 22 July 2011, the MEG 6 students joined their colleagues in the FEM Program for a week of excursions as part of the joint Ecosystem Management module.  The students were divided into three groups and sent off on separate excursions to explore the management of different ecosystems in the Bohemian-Bavarian National Park, Biosphere Reserve Rhön and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.  During the excursions, the students were given the opportunity to assess whether the theoretical elements of the Ecosystem Management Approach, which they had been learning about in class, were applicable in practice.  This was done through first-hand observation and meetings with stakeholders.

The first excursion group to depart Freiburg was headed for the Bohemian-Bavarian National Park, Germany’s first National Park.  Founded in 1970, it covers an area of 24,250 hectares and is located in South-Eastern Bavaria.  Together with a neighbouring National Park in the Czech Republic, it forms the largest preserved area in Central Europe.  The main management principle of the Park is a “hands-off” approach, in which nature is given space to be nature.  The students had the opportunity to explore the different forest habitats within the National Park and talk with various stakeholders including ecology/wildlife experts and local social groups, even meeting a beaver consultant.  During these interviews the students were able to discuss the challenges of nature conservation in the area and dealing with community perception of the management strategies employed within the Park.

The second excursion group travelled to Biosphere Reserve Rhön, situated in the low mountain ranges in the middle of Germany and lying over the borders of the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia.  UNESCO accredited the region as a Biosphere Reserve in 1991 as part of its Man and the Biosphere program, which sought to create model regions in which nature conservation and the sustainable use of resources could be practiced side by side.  The unique open landscape of the Rhön, with its rolling green pastures, moors and pockets of Beech forests, provided a spectacular backdrop for the students to explore the complexities of the management of the area.  Along with the ever-present tensions between the economic, social and environmental components of the sustainable development of the region, were conflicts between the notion of preserving a cultural landscape and the forces of natural and social succession.  Birdwatchers amongst the group were also constantly on alert to try to catch a glimpse of the impressive but elusive Black Grouse.

The third excursion group took a much more beaten path to Germany’s industrial heartland in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.  This region is one of the largest and most densely populated metropolitan areas in Europe and its past as a major centre of coal mining and steel production has left a legacy of significant environmental degradation.  The students were able to examine the challenges faced by new initiatives to revitalise and rehabilitate the urban environments in the region.  Through discussing these issues with relevant stakeholders the students discovered that one of the primary factors in achieving success in this regard is to reconnect the local people with their surrounding ecosystems and to re-instil a sense of valuing and belonging to the environment.