Cave protection
Cave protection is a term from an ethics - policy of the Association of German Cave and Karst Research e. V. for the preservation and protection of caves and karst phenomena . In addition to this guideline, there are individual passages in laws that are usually not completely dedicated to the subject, which aim at protecting caves.
Protection requirements
Caves and karst formations are rare and unique natural phenomena . The aim of the ethical guideline is to preserve karst phenomena as unchanged as possible and to avoid further and supplementary statutory regulations.
The protection of caves is done for aesthetic reasons, as a scientific archive and as a habitat for flora and fauna . Some of them contain an astonishing variety of living beings and offer safe winter quarters for endangered mammal species during the cold season. Some caves also contain artefacts of scientific value in archaeological , paleontological , paleoclimatic and sedimentological terms.
Caves also play an important role in tourism and general education. Overfrequent visitors and commercial cave trekking endanger the caves. Caves are not sports or competition arenas either. In ambitious sports activities, little attention is paid to the sensitive cave environment. This also includes hiding geocaches . When searching for the so-called treasures, there are often obstacles due to unnecessary digging or climbing.
Not every corner of a cave needs to be examined. In order to protect soil formations and sinter formations in particularly sensitive cave areas, the supervising cave associations sometimes mark a “researcher's path” with tape .
Group sizes are to be adjusted carefully and mass visits to be avoided.
Guideline of the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers
The ethical guideline was adopted on May 23, 1998 at the general meeting of the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers e. V.
The guideline is based on four statements.
- Don't take anything with you
- No original cave contents such as stalactites , sintered jewelry , bones, archaeological finds or living beings may be removed from the cave.
- Leave nothing behind
- No waste such as packaging , batteries , scrap carbide or equipment may be left in the cave. Karst caves are not isolated structures. Caves and sinkholes are partly part of large geological systems that are integrated into the water cycle. Pollutants from batteries, carbide residues and organic waste can enter the groundwater quickly and almost unfiltered with the seepage water. Biological legacies of humans are also preserved in caves for a long time.
- Don't destroy anything
- In addition to total or partial destruction due to the extraction of raw materials, construction work and robbery excavations after archaeological, palaeontological or mineralogical finds, there is also willful damage due to vandalism . Experienced cave walkers would like the necessary safety measures to be kept to a necessary minimum.
- Don't kill anything
- Animals living in caves or hibernating must not be removed or disturbed. This is especially true of the bats .
Legal regulations
Although there is currently no explicit national legal protection for caves, these are partially protected by a variety of other laws
- If they are part of nature reserves or are designated as natural monuments , then the provisions of nature conservation , especially Sections 23, 26 and 28 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, apply
- They are declared as geotopes , then they are subject to geotope protection and thus to the geotope protection work instructions of the German geological services .
- In Bavaria , according to the Bavarian Monument Protection Act, official approval is required for excavations in caves that are designated as ground monuments .
- Bavaria was the first federal state to implement protection of certain parts of the landscape in the Nature Conservation Act (BayNatSchG, Art. 16, § 2) , which includes significant changes to these parts of the landscape, including caves, ecologically or geomorphologically significant sinkholes, dead ice holes, abandoned artificial underground cavities ... , prohibited.
Protective measures
Bat protection
During the bat protection season from October 1 to March 31, cave visits are generally prohibited in the winter roosts according to Section 39, Paragraph 6 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act.
Smoke gases from open fire are a major nuisance for animals in the caves and can mean that they are no longer colonized for years.
Closure of caves
In some caves, the nature conservation authorities or supervising cave associations have installed year-round closures. This is to prevent cave visitors from causing damage in the sensitive cave areas or putting themselves in danger.
Individual evidence
- ^ Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers eV, Cave Protection (accessed on October 2, 2016)
- ^ Arbeitsgemeinschaft Höhle und Karst Grabenstetten e. V., cave protection (accessed on October 2, 2016)
- ↑ Ethics of the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers (accessed October 2, 2016)
- ↑ BayNatSchG, Art. 16, Protection of certain landscape components (accessed on October 10, 2016)
- ↑ Bavarian State Chancellery, Procedure for the Preservation of Archaeological Monuments in the sense of Art. 1 Para. 4 DSchG (accessed on October 2, 2016)
literature
- Instructions for geotope protection in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, 1st edition (1996), ISBN 978-3-89624-306-5
