Establishing indicators for evaluating and managing natural heritage sites of the DBU

Project partner

Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Halle

Short description

The natural heritage sites of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) are very specific areas that have a high potential:

• to be developed as near-natural ecosystems and landscapes that were formerly used as monocultures,
• to be developed for sustainable extensive land use,
• for the development of new recreational concepts, and
• for the development of new nature conservation strategies (e.g. climate adapted process conservation).

Therefore, some characteristics of these natural heritage sites differ significantly from existing nature reserve systems; previously used monitoring and indicator systems need to be specified and adapted accordingly. At the same time, there is a potential to develop new concepts for nature and environmental conservation with according monitoring and indicator systems. By comparison to existing indicator systems and because of the necessity to define new indicators for the specific issues in managing natural heritage sites, a new and complex  method will be developed. The method will use different hierarchically sequential indicators so that both basic and additional information can be provided for according to personnel capacities.

Benjamin Burkhard completed this project at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel.