PAN Parks: Vize pro českou divočinu

In the coming decades new areas should progressively be earmarked as wilderness forming altogether 3% of the Czech landscape according to Friends of the Earth Czech Republic. In these areas human intervention should be limited to certain facilities for visitors who could this way admire extraordinary nature.

Friends of the Earth released a new publication ‘A window into wilderness in the Czech landscape’, explaining the proposal of gradually creating wilderness on 3% of Czech land. The proposal is to establish areas of thousands of hectares, predominantly in forests, where human intervention would be restricted to new walking paths, nature information boards and other facilities for hikers. The locations should be chosen to include the main biological types of Czech nature, from lowland floodplain forests to mountain spruce forests. The areas would offer visitors a unique experience not available in an ordinary landscape and could also provide economic opportunity for the neighbouring communities. However, the proposal’s main goal is to preserve Czech nature.

Previously the German government has already decided to earmark at least 2% of its territory for wild nature by the end of the decade, in which 5% of German forests shall be left to wilderness.

PAN Parks welcomes the proposal and hopes it will be followed up. The Czech Republic also has PAN Parks potential: Sumava National Park is working for PAN Parks verification together with Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany.