By Erik Kirschbaum erik.kirschbaum.reuters.com@reuters.net or +49 30 2888 5230 (Berlin newsroom)

Reuters, published at IOL: "News for South Africa and the World"

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php 

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Wolves have returned to parts of eastern Germany a century after they were wiped out by hunters and a burgeoning population.

A few dozen wolves have formed a beachhead in the Brandenburg state just west of Poland. They enjoy special protection from authorities delighted by the return of the animals so deeply entrenched in German folklore.

It's a surprising comeback in one of the world's leading industrial nations where 82 million people are squeezed into a country the size of the U.S. state of Montana.

The wolves come from Poland or other neighbouring countries and live in a largely vacant area of abandoned strip mines and vacated troop training grounds southeast of Berlin.

Other species, like the crane and the white-tailed eagle, have also flourished in the east as the human population has decreased. More than 1,5 million people have left eastern Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall -- about one-tenth of the population.

Wolves are shy creatures, whose biggest predator is hunters.

Brandenburg state not only made it a crime to shoot wolves, but [also] offers farmers cash compensation for any farm animals that fall prey to the wolves. It also provides subsidies to farmers to buy electric fences to keep wolves out.

Wolves have also been returning to other countries where they were nearly extinct, including Italy, Austria, France and Baltic states, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

They were almost wiped out in most of northwestern Europe, although small populations survived in Spain and also further east in Italy.

Big, bad wolves feature prominently in European fables and fairy-tales like Little Red Riding Hood about a girl's encounter with a wicked wolf disguised as her grandmother.

"It was an undeserved rap," said Roland Melisch of the WWF. "The fact is we can live in harmony with wolves. They're predatory, but there are ways to limit dangers to sheep or goats. Wolves have it good in Germany now and their population will surely keep growing."

The WWF said there are, in fact, no documented cases in Europe of a healthy wolf living in the wild ever intentionally attacking and killing a human.

Wolves might be feared in other countries, but Matthias Freude, head of the Brandenburg state environmental office, said that Germans are fascinated by their return.

Copyright 2006, Reuters.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=143&art_id=vn20060831055049228C817681 

Additional related information:

Roland Melisch (WWF - World Wildlife Fund):

melisch@wwf.de or +49 (0)69 79144-180

Brandenburg State Office for Environment

Berliner Str. 21-25 - 14467 Potsdam

Postfach 60 10 61 - 14410 Potsdam

Tel. ++ 49(0)3312323-0

Fax: ++ 49(0)331292108

Matthais Freude matthais.freude@lua.brandenburg.de 

http://www.brandenburg.de/cms/media.php/2315/lua_eng.pdf 

Integration of the Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000

May 8-11, 2005

Host: Landesumweltamt Brandenburg

Location: Landeslehrstätte fur Naturschutz und Landschaftspflege, Lebus (Brandenburg State "Education Centre for Conservation").

The main focus of this workshop was the integration of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and the Habitats and Birds Directives (the constituent directives of Natura 2000), with the challenge of improving wetlands and freshwater habitats.

The Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) is a legislative instrument for the protection and improvement of the European Union's water resources.

The WFD was implemented in December 2000 -- charging Member States with its inclusion in national law by the end of 2003 -- with the target of achieving the "good status" of all European waters by 2015.

In May 2001 a "Common Implementation Strategy" (CIS) was initiated to support the implementation of the WFD by "developing a common understanding and guidance on key elements of this Directive."

More information about the WFD and CIS can be found through the Europa, Environment DG website at the following links:

The workshop was hosted by Landesumweltamt Brandenburg, experienced at managing large landscape areas, and used one of 15 large scale protected areas as an on-site case-study. This workshop represented an excellent opportunity to profit from the Brandenburg experience and share WFD and Natura 2000 experience with European colleagues.

The Brandenburg State Office for Environment and the Authority for Large Scale Protected Areas of Brandenburg joined in July 2004 to one authority called Brandenburg State Office for Environment (in German: Landesumweltamt Brandenburg).

One of the main topics of this new authority is the integration of the three European directives (Water Framework directive (WFD), Habitat directive and Birds directive) that are directed to the improvement of freshwaters and wetlands. This is also a very important subject for Eurosite.

Brandenburg is famous for its Large Scale Protected Areas in which in the last decade many projects (e.g. LIFE and Large-scale conservation projects) have been carried out in the field.

The WFD stands for a dramatic shift of the European water management to a biologically respectively ecologically orientated understanding of wetlands, seas, rivers and lakes. For that, WFD and Natura 2000 have similar objectives, tasks, interfaces, methods and management concepts that need to be implemented closely related without contradictions if they want to be successful.

Focal areas of presentation and discussion: