Strict Nature Reserve / Wilderness Area

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Strict Nature Reserve ( IUCN Ia ) and Wilderness Area ( IUCN Ib ), German Strenges Naturreservat / Wildnisgebiet are two categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources  (IUCN). As total reserves, they belong to the strictest categories of protected areas in nature and landscape protection .

Protection purpose

Strict Nature Reserves / Wilderness Areas are total reserves that are mainly administered for the purpose of research or the protection of large, unaffected wilderness areas. They serve primarily to preserve biodiversity and as indispensable reference areas for scientific work and environmental monitoring .

  • IUCN Ia Strict Nature Reserve are generally reserved for scientific field work.
  • IUCN Ib Wilderness Area are large areas of largely natural character, without permanent human influence or significant settlement. They are protected and managed in such a way that their natural state is preserved.

As with all IUCN categories, the focus of the classification is on the design of the protection goal and management (measures for interventions and prohibitions): Use and activities are strictly monitored. The strict nature reserves often form the core zone, the wilderness areas a buffer zone, similar to the concept of national parks (which also represent IUCN II), but also the UNESCO World Heritage areas . The core zone of category I may generally only be entered for scientific field research, as selected by the supervisory organization; guided tours are also possible in the buffer zones, for example.

An exception to the concept of being left to oneself are cases in which the wilderness area is too small to form a stable ecosystem . In such cases, regulatory interventions are permissible (e.g. protection against passing wild animals). Infestation with invasive species ( neobiota as well as indigenous species in principle) as well as collapse of the ecosystem (also due to environmental disasters such as wind breaks) represent a special case . There is still a dispute here in scientific nature conservation as to how narrowly or broadly the concept of the “natural” dynamic of the wilderness should be seen.

Protected areas

On the UN list of protected areas there are currently around 12,000 areas worldwide in category Ia or Ib (as of March 2012).

Germany

In the National Strategy for Biodiversity adopted in 2007, the Federal Government set itself the goal by 2020 that nature on 2% of the area of ​​Germany may develop undisturbed again according to its own laws and that wilderness will arise.

Austria

In Austria only one area is designated as IUCN I:

Switzerland

The Swiss National Park is an IUCN Category Ia protected area.

United States

In the USA, wilderness areas are the strictest protected area category. They are dedicated by law under the Wilderness Act of 1964 by the United States Congress . They must cover at least 20 km² (exception: islands) and may only be entered on foot or, if necessary, by canoe or horse, there are exceptions in the large areas of Alaska. At the beginning of 2010, over 750 wilderness areas were identified.

See also

literature

  • Nigel Dudley (Ed.): Guidelines for applying protected area management categories . IUCN, Gland 2008, ISBN 978-2-8317-1086-0 (English, French, Spanish, web link , download pdf, iucn.org).

Web links

Duration:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ National Strategy on Biodiversity
  2. ↑ Swiss National Park: Special features