National Park Program of the GDR

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The national park program of the GDR was a phase of the designation of 14 large protected areas in the area of ​​today's new federal states. This was completed with the Council of Ministers resolution of September 12, 1990, as a result of which five national parks , six biosphere reserves and three nature parks were finally placed under protection. The areas covered an area of ​​4882 km², which corresponded to 4.5% of the GDR territory. The then Federal German Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer referred to it as the "silverware of German unification" on October 3, 1990.

The process took place in the turbulent times of the turning point and peaceful revolution . The main actors were in a working group in the Ministry of the Environment of the last GDR government under Michael Succow , numerous helpers from the Federal Republic of Germany and local sponsors. The government received expert support from the Federal Environment Ministry under Minister Klaus Töpfer.

Chronological sequence

1950s: Erna and Kurt Kretschmann first considered the national park idea as an instrument of extensive nature conservation.

1979: Two large protected areas in the GDR are recognized as biosphere reserves by UNESCO: Steckby-Lödderitzer Forest biosphere reserve and Vessertal biosphere reserve .

1980s: Numerous currents in the GDR such as B. in voluntary nature conservation, in the " Society for Nature and Environment " in the Kulturbund of the GDR or in the citizens' initiative for the Müritz National Park expressed the will to establish large protected areas on the territory of state hunting areas and military training areas .

January 14, 1990: Michael Succow becomes Deputy Minister for Nature Conservation, Environmental Protection and Water Management. Under his leadership, a working group begins work on the designation of large protected areas.

March 16, 1990: Five national parks, six biosphere reserves and 16 nature parks are temporarily secured by a resolution of the Council of Ministers, which corresponds to 10.8 percent of the land area at that time. The government to be formed after the first free elections on March 18, 1990 was given the mandate to continue working on the program.

March 18, 1990: First free election in the GDR. Under the new government of Lothar de Maizière , Karl-Hermann Steinberg becomes Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Energy and Nuclear Safety (MUNER). Succow loses his prominent position and leaves the ministry in May. The national park program will still be continued.

May 1990: The working group receives personal support from the Federal Environment Ministry. Legal advice in particular is necessary, as mainly scientists with no experience in ministry or legislative work are involved. According to the treaty of May 18, 1990 on the creation of a monetary, economic and social union , the GDR was to take over the environmental law of the Federal Republic of Germany on July 1 . The Federal Nature Conservation Act contains the decisive paragraphs for the designation of large protected areas. The date October 3, 1990 for German reunification was not yet known at the time. It was only established during the 2plus4 talks with the contract of September 12, 1990. The working group therefore assumed that the work would last at least until the end of 1990, of which only half the time was ultimately available until September.

June 1990: The working group in MUNER gives the Institute for Landscape Research and Nature Conservation (ILN) in Greifswald the task of developing the scientific basis for the final protection of the initially provisionally secured areas by the end of the year.

July 1990: With the monetary union, the environmental framework law comes into force. For the future large protected areas this means that individual ordinances with clear zoning, rules and prohibitions including cartographic demarcation maps must be drawn up. The protected area ordinances are to be agreed on site with the council of the district and submitted as a proposal to the council of ministers. The numerous support staff in the local administrations received personal support from numerous experts from the Federal Republic of Germany. The zoning was continued by the ILN on the basis of biotope mapping. Consultations with the councils of the districts and counties were carried out. In places there were town councils. On July 25, Minister Steinberg placed the areas of the Lower Oder National Park and the Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft nature parks and the Erzgebirge-Vogtland under temporary protection. The number of large protected areas temporarily secured increased to 26.

August 1990: In the middle of the month the plans for rapid German reunification became known. The Council of Ministers decided on August 15 that the last meeting should take place on September 12. The national park program was accelerated enormously. At the beginning of September, all protected area ordinances should be available to Minister Steinberg so that they could be coordinated and adopted at the very last meeting of the Council of Ministers. The very tight schedule was considered unrealistic and failure could not be ruled out. Nevertheless, it was possible to coordinate the individual ordinances with one another and to secure them legally after the ordinance of the Müritz National Park was created as a model at the end of August.

September 1990: The remaining protected area ordinances were drawn up and presented to Minister Steinberg for signature on September 5, who then forwarded them to the seven ministries, as their approval was required within the next two days. The coordination was successful, even if extensive concessions had to be made to the individual specialist departments. On September 12, the Council of Ministers approved the national park program with the designation of 14 of the 26 provisionally secured areas.

The ordinances then had to be incorporated into the Unification Treaty by October 3 , which was surprisingly difficult. The agriculture ministries in East and West and the Federal Ministry of Transport were against the national park program. The negotiations were conducted under the direction of the two interior ministers, Schäuble and Krause. As a compromise, the priority of the federal traffic route plan over the provisions of the national park ordinances was established.

October 1990: The 14 protected area ordinances come into force on October 3rd.

Designated large protected areas

literature

  • Ministry for Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Ed.): 15 years of large protected areas. Schwerin 2006, p. 35.
  • H. Knapp, M. Succow: Balance and Outlook. 10 years of the East German National Park Program. In: National Park, No. 106 (1). Pp. 4-6.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the National Park program on natur-mv.de, accessed on January 3, 2014