Landscapes: large ecosystems, hotspots, etc.

For the protection and restoration of the large mammal populations in Eurasia a few things are necessary: room for living and food. Large herbivores need a lot of room, and they act as food for the large predators. At the end of their life they are an important food base for the (large and small) destructors, a forgotten part of biodiversity: the carrion eaters.

The Large Herbivore Foundation focuses itself on all wild large herbivores in the vast, well-connected landscapes of Eurasia. In the chapter "species" the relevant species are described. In this chapter we try to show where in Eurasia we can find in this kind of vast landscapes.

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Climate change

Nature managers have the responsibility to find practical solutions as an answer on the future (short and long term) changes in our climate. To safeguard the future of our nature vast and well connected landscapes / ecosystems are indispensable. Initiatives as the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) and the national and regional developments on ecological networks in Europe are good examples on how the fragmented landscapes can be transformed to coherent and vast climate proof ecosystems on the landscape level. These are the areas suitable for the large herbivores, the large carnivores, the carrion eaters and all other species, belonging to these ecosystems. Therefore, the improvements for the large herbivores and actions to mitigate the results of climate change in the field go hand-in-hand.

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Hotspots

In the year 2001 the report on "Hotspots for large herbivores in Europe and Asia" was published by the Large Herbivore Initiative (LHI) and WWF. These hotspots are digitalised in this chapter (Regions - hotspots). In the coming time you and all other readers are asked to give comments and to propose improvements. Some hotspots may not be so important any longer, other hotspots will be missed. Descriptions are still incomplete, and need improvements. Especially improvements leading to action for developments in the field. Both through field projects (including communication) and administrative protection (policy, legally, spatial planning).

Mongolia, photo: A.Lushekina)

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Room for wilderness

Open broadleaved forests where deer and European bison are chased by Wolf, Bear and Lynx; extensive grass steppes where the ground trembles under the hooves of thousands of wild horses and bovines; cliffs packed with ibexes, large colonies of vultures, eagles and eagle owls; deltas with large numbers of pelicans, sturgeons and sea turtles; marine reserves where 25 species of whales and dolphins provide first class entertainment - welcome in the Europeans Wilderness of the 21st century!

Today's generation can realize such a vision. A modern Europe without borders offers a nature without borders or limitations. An almost forgotten richness of flora and fauna, remarkable on the European continent, can be developed in a network of large wild areas. New generations of Europeans will enjoy this fortune. And, above all, in many European regions the development of spectacular wilderness will be the key to unlock new, sustainable economic prosperity.

The Wild Europe Field Programme intends to develop more European wilderness, see the brochure that gives more information about this initiative.

This is one of the initiatives to give more room for natural processes in our so by people influenced continent. This programme supports a few regional challenges, but there are much more (long term) possibilities.

In the chapter Room for wilderness we will give room for ideas "from dreams to reality" to develop knowledge and experience to grow from habitat management (nature management through former agricultural techniques as mowing, digging, etc.) to ecological-process management (let the ecosystem work, with the help of the large herbivores).

We are looking forward for ideas about such large areas, that can be on a national level, but will also often be cross border.

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Nature Development Areas

In especially the - often crowed - Western European countries nature development is seen as a solution to restore nature and to give nature new room for developments. Nature development is the technique to reverse (often agricultural) land into nature by land acquisition, improving the a-biotic circumstances (such groundwater and soil) and defragmentation into relatively large scaled nature areas.

Nature development can often be combined with other goals, such more room for water, to prevent floods along the rivers and the coast.
An other example is the (forgotten) role of large herbivores in the forests. These animals are often seen as game and a burden for the production of timber, but large herbivores in their variety belong to the forest ecosystems, areas covered with trees, but with also (often temporary) open spaces.

Large herbivores often play an important ecological-process role by shaping the landscape and making habitats for lots of other species (Photo: Olga Pereladova).

On the webpage Nature Development Areas we made a first start with examples of such areas. Please send us descriptions of more examples and challenges.