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Europe's Longest Green Corridor in Danger |
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By Julio Godoy*
Intensive
agriculture threatens the green corridor along the former inter-German
border, nearly 1,400 kilometers long.
BERLIN - Along the border that separated the
two Germanys during the Cold War there formed a sort of green belt
that is home to thousands of endangered species. Now, 16 years after
the fall of the Berlin wall, intensive agriculture threatens the
future of this ecosystem.
From 1945 to 1989, the era confronting the United States and its
Western European allies against the Soviet bloc, the 3,000-km barrier
separating the former German Democratic Republic and the Federal
Republic of Germany was known as "the dead zone" because of the
military presence on both sides of the border.
But it also became a zone full of life, 50 to 200 meters wide and
running from the North Sea to the Thuringia Forest, at the Czech
Republic border, habitat for thousands of species that moved freely,
unobstructed by human activities.
"The green corridor is the longest continuous biotope in Europe,
nearly 1,400 kilometers, in which endangered species can move and
multiply," Liana Geidezis, director of the Grünes Band (Green Band)
project of the German environmental group BUND, told Tierramérica.
According to official data from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation,
there are 181 protected areas in the corridor, habitat for more
than a thousand plant and animal species considered endangered.
Among these species are the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), a small
bird with green, blue, brown and red feathers that needs pure running
water for survival; the black stork (Ciconia nigra), which seeks
safe areas to reproduce; as well as some exotic orchids and hundreds
of other plant species.
"In the past 16 years, agriculture on both sides of the former border
has become integrated, gradually destroying the green corridor,"
said Geidezis. "If the growth of agricultural exploitation on both
sides of the former border continues, the corridor is going to disappear."
BUND detailed this discouraging outlook in a recent study for Germany's
environmental authorities. The study compares current data from
the biotope extending along the former inter-German border with
data from 2001. In addition to the expansion of farming, other human
activities, including sports like motocross, contribute to the systematic
destruction of the green area.
The German government itself has had a hand in the corridor's devastation.
From 1997 to 2003, the Finance Ministry sold off parcels of land
to private farmers, and it wasn't until 2003, under pressure from
environmental groups, that it agreed to create a protected area.
However, bureaucratic problems common to a federal entity like this
have so far prevented its official implemenation.
To speed up the process, BUND proposed creating property titles
for parcels of the ecosystem, to be acquired by individuals interested
in protecting it, with a base price of 65 euros (some 80 dollars).
With the corridor in the hands of committed citizens, its protection
would be much easier to achieve, says Geidezis.
BUND also found some good news. In some regions, such as near the
city of Salzwedel, some 200 km west of Berlin, intensive farming
along both sides of the green corridor has diminished, allowing
reforestation and the return of flora and fauna.
In Geidezis's opinion, this positive trend is related to the joint
efforts of environmentalists and farmers. "Where there was cooperation
we found a better dynamic of protection," she said.
* Julio Godoy is an IPS correspondent.
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