Timeline for the history of nature conservation

The article names individual stages in the development of nature conservation and landscape management , taking into account technical concepts, but also structures such as nature conservation administration or associations. The information relates primarily to Germany, but also to Austria, Switzerland and neighboring countries. In the case of the national park movement, which has its origins in the USA, the international importance of nature conservation is named just as it is in the international conventions that gained in importance around 1960 , for example through the Council of Europe or UNESCO .

precursor

The preservation and protection of plants and animals, certain types of biotope or landscape elements, for their own sake , was of little importance before 1800. Formal protection regulations are only issued where aspects of use play a role, for example in the case of hunting for some wild animal species, provided they belong to large and small game, or falconry for birds of prey. The protection of the forests from overexploitation was also a reason for the authorities to initiate corresponding initiatives.

1237	The Archbishop of Salzburg, Eberhard von Regensberg , bans the use of clearcuts for pasture in the Gastein Valley to protect the forest.
1310	The forest ban of the city of Amberg is issued to protect the forest.
1335	In Zurich, the catching of birds is prohibited so that they can devour beetles and other "harmful insects".
1476	With the Schultheissen-Ordinance, the destruction of the forests by the Köhlers in Siegerland is to be stopped.
1548	In Switzerland, the first hunting banned area was created in the canton of Glarus .
1778	Hunting and catching bears , lynxes and wolves is prohibited in Immenstadt and in the Staufen rulership in the imperial county of Rothenfels .
1799	Alexander von Humboldt coined the term natural monument for a particularly tall mimosa tree in Venezuela .
1801	Friedrich Schiller points out in his work “ On the Sublime ” the contrast between cultural and natural landscapes and the human need for untouched nature.
1802	Johann Matthäus Bechstein calls for the protection of wild animal species, especially birds, as part of nature's household .
1803	The Bavarian King Maximilian I. Joseph commissioned Stephan Freiherr von Stengel to transform the Bamberg grove into a landscape park based on the model of the English Garden in Munich, which is placed under protection. Although nature conservation was not in the foreground, the Bamberg grove is one of the first protected areas.
1803	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe demands: “If the natural scientist wants to assert his right to free contemplation and contemplation, he makes himself an obligation to secure the rights of nature; only where it is free will he be free, wherever it is bound by human statutes he will also be tied up. "

First protected areas

As a result of the Enlightenment , the first protected areas emerged in the spirit of modern nature and landscape protection, to protect nature for its own sake. But the focus is still on edification , not ecological intentions.

About 30 years after Bechstein's demands for the protection of animals and species in 1802 and the creation of the word natural monument by Humboldt in 1799, the first concrete steps to protect nature are being taken in Germany. In Saxony, trees are placed under protection, and the first nature reserve on German soil is being created on the Drachenfels near Königswinter. In addition to individual people who campaign for animal welfare and nature conservation, citizens also come together to form associations to represent nature's concerns.

In Austria, Switzerland and other European countries, too, efforts are being made to designate protected areas that either go back to the work of individuals or, increasingly, at the suggestion of nature conservation associations.

The nature park idea, which was developed in the USA, also has its roots in the middle of the 19th century. The planning and designation of nature parks and national parks is still very important for nature and landscape protection today.

The term nature conservation was first used in other contexts in the 19th century. As a military term, it referred to protection from enemies. But defense mechanisms of animals were also referred to as nature protection in natural science and criminological sources understood the natural protection of humans against suicide as nature protection. In 1871, the first documented use of the term "nature conservation" in its current meaning by Philipp Leopold Martin in his series of articles " The German Empire and International Animal Protection "

1821	Naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton is fencing his estate in Walton Hall, West Yorkshire, England as a sanctuary against poaching and pollution. It is considered the first nature reserve in the modern sense.
1836	Part of the Drachenfels is acquired by the Prussian government in order to prevent further mining of the mountain; this is often seen as the establishment of the first nature reserve in Germany. However, the area was not formally placed under protection until 1922. The aim of the conservation area was primarily to preserve the scenic charm and fairytale charm and not primarily the habitat of animals.
1847	With the registration of 28 trees in a forest area and their protection as natural monuments by the Royal Saxon Ministry of Finance, individual objects are placed under protection for the first time.
1852	The Teufelsmauer in the Harz is designated as a protected area.
1852	In the Austro-Hungarian Reich Forest Act, provisions are included for the first time that aim to protect nature.
1857	Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl calls for the “ right of the wilderness ” alongside the “ right of the field ”.
1858	The chief forester Joseph John succeeds in ensuring that the virgin forest (Boubín primeval forest) on Kubany in the Bohemian Forest with the still preserved primeval mountain mixed forests is placed under protection by Prince Schwarzenberg . Now the third oldest nature reserve in the Czech Republic .
1864	With the Yosemite Valley, the State of California is the first major area under protection.
1868	At their general assembly in Vienna, German farmers and foresters pass a resolution on the international protection of birds useful for agriculture and forestry.
1870	In Switzerland, the Creux du Van is the first area in the country to be placed under nature protection.
1872	Josef Schöffel , the mayor of Mödling , prevents the partial deforestation of the Vienna Woods . He justified his demand, which he enforced in a dispute with the Austrian government over several years, with nature conservation.
1874	In the Fontainebleau forest a nature reserve is established to maintain the forest stand. The area and the natural occurrences of the forest were a source of inspiration and subject matter for many artists of the Barbizon School in the middle of the century .
1875	The first federal law on hunting and bird protection is passed in Switzerland .

First laws, nature parks overseas

With the Prussian Protection Forest Act , nature and its protection are not only legally anchored for the first time, but are also given consideration, at least in part of the state administration, which they had not received or only rudimentary until then. At the same time, groups in society become active in terms of nature conservation and thus form the counterpart to the administration. The Black Forest Association was founded as early as 1861, and the German Alpine Association in 1869 ; in 1883 they both merged with other hiking associations in the Association of German Mountain and Hiking Associations , with the aim of "opening up the German mountain world historically, scientifically and in descriptions of places".

The first nature parks are designated in New Zealand and the USA. These did not have the strict protection of nature in mind, as it is understood today, but the preservation of original landscapes, as was the aim of the hiking clubs that were established at this time.

1871	First proven use of the term "nature protection" in its current meaning by Philipp Leopold Martin in his series of articles " The German Empire and International Animal Protection "
1872	Yellowstone Park (USA) is the first national park to be established in the world.
1875	The Prussian Protection Forest Act is passed.
1875	The German Association for the Protection of the Bird World is founded.
1876	The first draft for a Reich Bird Protection Act is being drawn up.
1880	Ernst Rudorff speaks out in favor of “preserving the uniqueness of the landscape” and preserving “nature in its originality”.
1886	Canada passes a seal protection law .
1886	The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) is launching a campaign against any expansion of the use of the existing hydropower, especially with regard to damming and making the Rhine Falls navigable .
1887	New Zealand creates the Tongariro National Park .
1888	Ernst Rudorff uses the term nature conservation . In his diary on November 9th there is the entry: "An important letter written [...] about nature conservation."
1888	The law on the protection of birds is enacted. Among other things, birds of prey and water birds are excluded from protection.
1890	Yosemite Park and Sequoia & Kings Canyon are declared national parks by the US federal government.
1898	In a speech in the Prussian House of Representatives, Wilhelm Wetekamp advocates legally protecting dwindling nature and restricting soil culture in moors and other landscapes. He calls for the establishment of inviolable protected areas in state parks in which the "monuments of the history of the development of nature ... should be preserved". In doing so, he referred to the American national parks and praised North America, "which is otherwise so often presented to us as a deterring example with its materialism", as a model worth emulating.
1898	Friedrich Althoff from the Prussian Ministry of Culture issued Hugo Conwentz due to the claim of William Wetekamp develop to their conservation the order, the threat of natural monuments in Prussia to investigate and suggestions.

State nature conservation agencies and private associations

In order to implement the gradually enacted nature protection laws, government agencies were required, which were established over time in various German states as well as in other European countries. Even though they were often filled with staff who had other tasks in addition to nature conservation, they were continuously expanded and are in some cases forerunners of today's authorities, such as the State Agency for Natural Monument Preservation established in Gdansk in 1906 , which became the Reich Agency for Nature Conservation in 1936 and the Federal Agency in 1952 for nature conservation and landscape management . In 1993 the Federal Agency became the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).

1883	Foundation of the Plauen Nature Conservation Association
1899	Lina Hähnle founds the German Association for Bird Protection in Stuttgart , from which today's Nature Conservation Association Germany (Nabu) emerged.
1900	The association for the protection of alpine plants and animals is founded.
1900	An inventory of natural monuments is presented for the province of East Prussia .
1902	In Prussia, the first landscape protection law is passed, with which, among other things, the setting up of billboards in the open countryside is prohibited. The law does not contain any substantial nature conservation requirements.
1904	At the instigation of Ernst Rudorff , the Federation of Homeland Security is founded. The association not only tries to preserve traditional customs and traditions, but also the landscape. Rudorff writes about this: “Heide and anger, moor and meadow, bush and hedge disappear where any of their presence comes into conflict with a so-called rational usage principle”.
1904	Hugo Conwentz presents a list of the natural attractions of West Prussia as well as a memorandum entitled “The endangerment of natural monuments and suggestions for their preservation”, which becomes a milestone on the way to nature conservation as a state task.
1905	In Holland, the Vereeniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland is founded.
1906	Foundation of the commission for the conservation of natural monuments and prehistoric sites in Switzerland.
1906	In France, a law is passed to protect monuments de la nature .
1906	Foundation of the Swiss Nature Conservation Commission (SNK) by the Swiss Society for Natural Research .
1906	The State Agency for the Preservation of Natural Monuments in Prussia begins its work, with its headquarters in Berlin from 1911. Its task is to document, research and advise. Its first director is Hugo Conwentz (until 1922). From 1907 he built up a network of voluntary workers who worked in provincial, district and district committees.
1906	A state committee for nature conservation is set up in Bavaria .
1907	A passage has been added to the Swiss Civil Code according to which expropriations are possible for the protection of natural monuments.
1907	Due to a request by the Geneva Société de physique et d'histoire naturelle to the Federal Council to designate protected areas in the Alps, the Lower Engadine nature reserve with a size of 172 km² is established.
1907	With the NSG “ Urwald Sababurg ” one of the first forest protection areas in Germany is established.
1909	Sweden has two nature conservation laws: a natural monument law and a national park law.
1909	The Swiss Natural Research Society signs the first lease agreement with the municipality of Zernez , with the aim of protecting the Val Cluozza .
1909	Foundation of the Swiss Confederation for Nature Conservation (SBN), which was renamed Pro Natura in 1997 .
1909	The governor of German South West Africa places the Etosha pan and two other areas under nature protection. The Etosha area is declared Etosha National Park .
1909	In Munich the association Naturschutzpark e. V. founded. He has set himself the goal of defending “original and impressive landscapes with their natural animal and plant communities as a nature reserve from civilization”.
1910	The Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna establishes nature reserves and founds its own nature conservation commission.
1910	The first bird protection day is held in Germany.
1910	The association Naturpark e. V. founds the Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve , which was designated as a nature reserve in 1921. This association also acquires areas in the Austrian Hohe Tauern in order to later create a large nature park or nature reserve.

From natural monument to landscape conservation - the time of the nature reserves

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there was increasing demand that nature conservation should not be limited to smaller areas or that it should only be dedicated to the protection of individual groups of species, such as birds, but rather to view and protect landscapes holistically. As a result of these considerations, numerous nature reserves were created internationally, for which concepts were developed that were ultimately forerunners of modern landscape management. In many cases, the efforts to designate nature reserves were promoted and supported by associations that were formed during this time and of which successor organizations still exist today.

1909	Sweden is the first European country to establish 9 national parks, including Abisko National Park
1910	The Zehlaubruch in East Prussia is set up as the first large (25 km²) moor nature reserve in Prussia.
1911	Hermann Löns polemicises against conventional nature conservation and thus calls for comprehensive landscape management .
1912	Adolf von Guttenberg founds the Nature Conservation Park Association . The association forms the nucleus of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union .
1912	The Berchtesgaden Alps plant conservation area, the forerunner of today's Berchtesgaden National Park , is established.
1913	In Italy the Lega Nazionale per la Protezione dei monumenti naturali is founded.
1913	The Federation of Nature Conservation in Bavaria is created.
1913	The first edition of the Blätter für Naturkunde und Naturschutz , edited by Günter Schlesinger , appears in Austria . Since this paper later became the association journal of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union, 1913 is assumed to be the year the association was founded.
1913	The 1st international nature conservation conference is held in Bern under the leadership of Paul Sarasin . Delegates from 18 countries take part.
1914	The Swiss Natural Research Society (SNG), chaired by Fritz Sarasin, demands that, unlike in the USA, national parks should be subject to strict protection regulations and that recreational and entertainment functions should be excluded for the public.
1914	The Lower Engadine nature reserve is declared the first national park in Switzerland and the Alps.
1918	Spain founds the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park .
1919	In Article 150 of the Weimar Constitution, the goal is anchored that “monuments of ... nature and the landscape ... enjoy the protection and care of the state”.
1920	The Prussian Field and Forest Police Act creates the possibility of designating nature reserves. On this basis, an area was protected for the first time in 1921 in the Neandertal near Düsseldorf.
1922	The Gran Paradiso National Park is established in Italy .
1922	The Siebengebirge becomes a nature reserve.
1922	Walther Schoenichen takes over from Hugo Conwentz the management of the State Agency for Natural Monument Preservation in Prussia, which was founded in 1906 and which he held until 1935.
1923	The Białowieża Primeval Forest is the first national park in Poland to be established.
1924	Lower Austria enacts the first state nature conservation law and at the same time the first state cave protection law in Austria. The Nature Conservation Act serves as a model for the German Reich Nature Conservation Act of 1935.
1924	The organization Verein Naturschutzpark founded in 1912 is transformed into the Austrian Nature Conservation Union.
1925	The first German Nature Conservation Day in Munich aims to educate “about the popular importance of nature conservation”.
1925	In Switzerland the federal law on hunting and bird protection is enacted.
1927	Establishment of a Berlin agency for the preservation of natural monuments, from which the Berlin Commission for the Preservation of Natural Monuments was formed in 1928 under the management of Max Hilzheimer as the first Berlin commissioner for nature conservation. Representatives of municipal bodies and organizations interested in nature conservation are involved.
1928	The International Bureau for Nature Conservation (Office international de documentation et de corrélation pour la protection de la Nature), the forerunner of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), opens in Brussels .

1933 to 1945

regarding Germany see also → Nature Conservation under National Socialism

The Nazis implemented after 1933 also the nature of their ideological goals. To this end, among other things, the nature conservation associations were brought into line and idea of nature conservation with the racist home-term as well as -and-soil ideology blood linked. Nature conservation, landscape maintenance and planning were finally assigned tasks in connection with the conquest and settlement of areas outside the German Empire in Eastern Europe as part of the General Plan East .

1933	Appointment of Alwin Seifert as Reich landscape attorney of the General Inspector for German Roads . Among other things, Seifert tries to aesthetically alleviate the conflict between nature and technology by planting on the side of the road or avoiding straight routes.
1933	The Federation for Bird Protection and all other associations that work for bird protection are brought into line in the Reich Federation for Bird Protection (RfV) .
1933	The Federation of Heimatschutz was brought into line after its former chairman Paul Schultze-Naumburg had already entered the Reichstag for the NSDAP in 1932 .
1933	Benno Wolf , legal advisor in the state agency for the preservation of natural monuments in Prussia since 1920, submits his resignation in order to anticipate his “removal from civil service” according to the law on civil servants . He wrote the Prussian Field and Forest Regulations Act , also known as the Small Nature Conservation Act , and the commentary on the right to preserve natural monuments in Prussia . He was previously a colleague of Walther Schoenichen and Hans Klose . Wolf died in 1943 in the Theresienstadt concentration camp .
1934	Formation of the Association of Austrian Nature Conservation , which in 1935 called itself the Austrian Society for Nature Conservation and Natural History and from 1938 Danube Country Society for Nature Conservation and Natural History . Its chairman is Günter Schlesinger.
1934	With the renaming of the Federation for Bird Protection to Reichsbund für Vogelschutz (RfV) in 1934, the statutes were also redesigned according to the guidelines of the regime, so only "German citizens of German or related blood" may become members.
1934	The National Socialist Ministry of Agriculture developed the concept of the so-called production battle to increase food production as part of the National Socialist self-sufficiency efforts. The so-called 10th commandments of the production battle meant severe impairments for nature conservation as a result of the intensification of agriculture, for example through increased fertilization, amelioration , conversion of so-called wasteland into farmland, peatland colonization and land consolidation .
1935	The Reich Nature Conservation Act (RNG) of June 26, 1935 comes into force. It was prepared before 1933, among others by Benno Wolf. The RNG forms the basis for all later nature conservation laws in Germany. With the law, selective nature protection is expanded to include landscape management. Apart from the orientation of the preamble, the text of the law is comparatively little ideological. The official nature conservationists were given a de jure say in planning, which in reality often had no consequences. Since economic and military goals had priority, countless moors and heaths fell victim to the reclamation of so-called wasteland areas by the Reich Labor Service.
1935	The Berlin nature conservation commissioner Max Hilzheimer was stripped of his German citizenship because of his Jewish origins. In 1936 he was ousted from all offices and honorary posts.
1935	Hans Klose was appointed to the Reich Forestry Office, where he played a key role in the drafting of the Reich Nature Conservation Act and its implementation regulations. Despite these circumstances, Hans Klose described the years 1936 to 1939 as the "high time" for nature conservation in 1948.
1936	Laying of the foundation stone for the Prora seaside resort on Rügen for organized mass tourism Strength through joy . With the facility, a highly sensitive natural landscape is being destroyed.
1936	The Reich Agency for Nature Conservation belonging to the Reich Forest Ministry is set up. Walther Schoenichen became the first manager until 1938.
1936	The Swiss federal government appoints the Federal Nature and Heritage Protection Commission as a consultative body.
1937	Konrad Glasewald calls for aid programs to protect seabird colonies .
1938	Hans Klose becomes head of the Reich Agency for Nature Conservation (until 1945). He was not very successful in practical nature conservation work, as the actual idea of ​​nature conservation no longer had any significant significance because of the war and as a result of ideological reorientation towards landscape maintenance .
1938	Hans Schwenkel is appointed head of the landscape conservation department at the Reich Forestry Office as the highest nature conservation authority in Berlin. It calls, among others, the participation in measures to increase the production, freight consolidation, use of machinery, the amelioration or wasteland cultivation. This year he wrote about land consolidations, for example, that amalgamation of goods cannot be avoided: "It is probably the most urgent task of nature conservation to intervene here with determination, but also to try to understand the indispensable agricultural demands."
1939	Forced dissolution of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union.
1939	In the realm Forestry Department is Department of Conservation for the Department of landscape conservation and nature conservation expanded. This is divided into the groups Landscape Management I and Landscape Management II . Group I is responsible for landscape protection and design within the "Old Reich" and is headed by Hans Schwenkel. Group II is responsible for landscape protection and design in the new settlement areas and is led by Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann .
1939	The realm landscape attorney Alwin Seifert defines the task of landscape maintenance as follows: “If the East is to become a home for Germans from all districts and if it should flourish and be just as beautiful as the rest of the realm, it is not enough to make the cities more Polish from the consequences To liberate the economy and build clean, pleasant villages, then the landscape must be Germanized again. "
1940	Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann is appointed by the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Volkstum to the Reichsführer SS as a special representative for landscaping and maintenance. Among other things, he designs the concept of the defensive landscape, in which trees and hedges are to be laid out in such a way that they offer privacy protection against enemy aircraft. Rivers should have a friend and an enemy side.

New start with old staff

In the western German states, the nature conservation authorities continued to work largely with staff from the Nazi era after individual activists such as Hans Schwenkel had been given a temporary leave of absence. Some of the people entrusted with “special tasks” in the East during National Socialism, such as Heinrich Wiepking or Konrad Meyer , were appointed to university chairs, where they were supposed to train future nature and landscape conservationists.

In the GDR, the political integration and objectives of nature conservation changed. The most influential planners like Georg Pniower or Reinhold Lingner were politically unencumbered and loyal to the SED. Neither an aesthetic exaggeration nor an emphasis on the ethnic-racial aspect played a role in the construction of a socialist state with which a more just society was to be linked. However, this changed little in the practical work of landscape planning. The tasks remained the same. The model continued to be the intensification of land use. In terms of personnel, specialists from the time of National Socialism, including members of the NSDAP, were used; often these came from Alwin Seifert's environment .

1946	The reconstruction of nature conservation in the newly created countries is being carried out, mostly without interruption, by the same experts as until 1945. While Hans Klose advocates the central responsibility of a future federation for nature conservation , the Allies assign these tasks to the federal states.
1946	The 1st Austrian Nature Conservation Conference after the end of the war, in the presence of representatives of official nature conservation, the federal and state governments, as well as scientific nature conservation and nature conservation associations, takes place in Schladming . The main topics of the consultations are a. a uniform federal nature conservation law, the organization of private nature conservation and the creation of new protected areas.
1946	42 nations conclude the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling in Washington DC (USA) to regulate whaling worldwide. The treaty came into force in 1948.
1947	Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann was appointed professor of land maintenance, gardening and landscape design at the TH Hannover until his retirement in 1958 and had a great influence on nature conservation and landscape management in West Germany.
1947	The German Forest Protection Association is founded in Bad Honnef ; it defends itself against the immense logging of wood, which is taken from the forests for heating and as reparation for the victorious powers.
1948	Renaming of the Austrian Society for Natural History and Nature Conservation to the Austrian Nature Conservation Union .
1949	Hans Schwenkel becomes head of the State Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management North Württemberg in Stuttgart. He will hold this position until his retirement.

Biological stations and reorganization of the nature conservation administration

In the Federal Republic of Germany, as in other European countries, the nature conservation administration is being reorganized and adapted to the needs of species, nature and landscape protection. In many cases, specialist authorities are set up on the basis of which the administrations prepare their laws and regulations. Another feature of this time is the establishment of biological stations that develop the scientific basis for nature conservation.

1949	Henry Makowski initiates the crane protection program at the Lüneburg bird protection station , one of the first companies to try to protect species based on an analysis of habitats.
1949	The Austrian Institute for Nature Conservation and Land Care is established.
1950	In his book Road to Survival, William Vogt laments the worldwide dwindling of fertile soils.
1950	The German Nature Conservation Ring (DNR) is founded by 15 member associations as the umbrella organization for nature and environmental protection organizations in Germany.
1950	The Neusiedlersee Biological Station is built on a private initiative and taken over by the federal state of Burgenland in 1956 . Among other things, the station has to research the scientific principles of nature conservation at Lake Neusiedl.
1951	The Federal Council of the FRG decides to dissolve two state agencies with tasks of nature conservation, the Central Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management in Egestorf as well as the Central Agency for Vegetation Mapping of the Reich in Stolzenau "without replacement". At the initiative of the German Nature Conservation Ring, the umbrella organization for nature conservation associations, the decision was repealed at the end of 1952.
1952	The Austrian Association for Nature Conservation prevails with its demand to preserve the Krimml Waterfalls , whose water should be diverted to generate electricity.
1952	The German nature conservation administration demands that the “closer” nature conservation should not be understood as a museum issue , but as an economic necessity in order to “maintain sustainable fertility of the landscape” and to achieve increases in yield. According to this, "... the imperative requirement arises that in our cultural landscape a scaffolding or a mosaic of such primeval landscape remnants must be preserved in addition to the other landscape reserves, such as the field trees, the hedges and the natural valley floors, if we are difficult economic Want to avoid damage. "
1953	The Institute for State Research and Nature Conservation is founded in Halle an der Saale , which aims to develop the scientific principles of nature conservation in the GDR.
1953	In the FRG, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management is established with its headquarters in Bonn-Bad Godesberg . Together with the Federal Agency for Vegetation Mapping in Stolzenau, it reports to the division of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests. Both institutes should take care of scientific issues of nature conservation and support the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in its work.
1954	In the GDR , the law for the preservation and care of the native nature - nature conservation law is passed as a replacement of the formerly valid Reich nature conservation law.
1956	The Hamburg businessman Alfred Toepfer , chairman of the Nature Conservation Park Association , announced that he would like to create 25 nature parks in Germany.
1958	In Switzerland, work began on drawing up the federal inventory of landscapes and natural monuments of national importance , which was continuously updated and was completed in 1967.
1958	In Austria, the World Association for the Rescue of Life , subsequently internationally active as the World Association for the Protection of Life (WSL) , is founded.
1959	The German Nature Conservation Day 1959 has the motto order of landscape - order of space . The magic word is not the change in the development of industrial society, but the order of this development through the order of the landscape . The magic is called spatial planning , the central part of which is to be landscape planning and maintenance of the land.
1961	The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), today the World Wide Fund for Nature , is founded in Zurich .
1962	In a referendum in Switzerland, an amendment to the federal constitution to include an article on nature and homeland protection is adopted, which provides that the cantons are responsible for nature and homeland protection. With this article, biological-ecological arguments are given more weight than aesthetic aspects. As a result, nature conservation authorities were created in most cantons.
1962	Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring appears and gives the idea of ​​nature conservation new arguments.
1962	In the FRG, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management and the Federal Agency for Vegetation Mapping are merged to form the Federal Agency for Vegetation Science , Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (BAVNL) based in Bad Godesberg.
1966	In Switzerland, the federal law on nature and homeland protection is passed .

International nature protection

Recognizing that nature and its protection does not stop at state borders, international organizations came into action from around 1960 to formulate international protection goals. Noteworthy are research programs such as the UNESCO program Man and the Biosphere as well as numerous international species protection agreements.

1967	The Council of Europe is setting up Naturopa , an information and documentation center for nature conservation, as one of its organs. Naturopa publishes a magazine of the same name as an information medium for nature conservation issues in Europe, in which, over the years, topics related to landscape conservation and cultural work have become more and more important.
1970	The UNESCO program Man and the Biosphere ( Man and the Biosphere unite) is to protect and benefit nature.
1970	In the GDR, the law on the systematic organization of socialist national culture in the GDR in conjunction with a nature conservation ordinance replaces the law on the care and preservation of native nature from 1954.
1970	First European year of nature conservation
1970	The first German national park is being created with the Bavarian Forest National Park .
1971	The Federal Office for Environmental Protection (since 2006 Federal Office for the Environment ) is created in Switzerland .
1971	With the international Ramsar Convention , a contract is signed for the first time, which aims to promote the worldwide protection and sustainable use of wetlands . The contract came into force in 1975.
1972	The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm is the first to address global environmental problems. The UN established the United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP - United Nations Environment Program ).
1972	The Club of Rome publishes The Limits to Growth and arouses great public interest in nature conservation.
1973	The European Federation of Nature and National Parks ( EUROPARC Federation ) is created.
1973	The Washington Convention on Endangered Species regulates the trade in endangered species.

Species protection and biotope mapping

As a result of the knowledge that in order to protect species and their habitats, their occurrence must be known and named, programs to collect data have been set up. After initial surveys on a larger scale, fine mapping was carried out, in which the distribution of species is often entered on raster maps , which represent the biotopes clearly on maps. Since the turn of the century, these data and areas have been and are digitized using geographic information systems and made available to the public on the Internet.

1975	The state of Baden-Württemberg is the first federal state in the FRG to include a species protection program in the Nature Conservation Act and lays down a framework for its implementation.
1975	The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) is founded. It is represented in all federal states except Bavaria with its own state associations and is considered the first nationwide nature conservation association in Germany. In Bavaria, the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern from 1913, which cooperates with the BUND, still exists .
1976	Enactment of the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG) in the FRG as a framework law. While the Reich Nature Conservation Act was more strongly characterized by “respect for nature for its own sake”, the BNatSchG, among other things, meets the needs of nature users in a central point. The agricultural clause assumes that intensive agriculture also serves nature conservation.
1977	A red list for animals and plants is published for the first time in the FRG area .
1977	In Bavaria, a systematic state-wide biotope mapping is carried out for the first time in a federal state of the FRG . It is divided into four areas: the flat land mapping outside the Alps and cities, the alpine biotope mapping and the urban biotope mapping . In addition, the biotopes located on military grounds are recorded.
1979	The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Wildlife and Their Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) is brought into being. The aims of the convention are to create a minimum level of protection for most wild species of flora and fauna and their natural habitats, as well as full protection for a certain number of particularly endangered species of animals and plants, especially migratory species.
1979	The EEC Council issues directives on the conservation of wild birds .
1985	In the FRG, the protected areas take up about one percent of the area.
1986	The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is founded.
1987	In Switzerland, a general protection of moors and moorlands is anchored in the Rothenturm initiative by referendum.
1987	In the FRG a new Federal Nature Conservation Act is announced. For the first time there is the possibility of criminal penalties for violations of species protection. It also contains a final catalog of specially protected species.
1989	In the GDR, a new implementation ordinance for the State Culture Law of 1970 with the title Protection and Care of the Plant and Animal World and the Beauties of the Landscape is enacted.
1990	In the last months of the GDR, the freely elected People's Chamber identified five large national parks, three nature parks and six biosphere reserves . They cover almost 3.7 percent of the area of ​​the former GDR.
1991	The Agreement for the Conservation of European Bat Populations (UNEP / EUROBATS) is concluded under the auspices of UNEP / CMS. The organization's secretariat has been based in the UN Secretariat in Bonn since 1996.
1992	The UN environmental conference in Rio leads to a. in the Convention on Biological Diversity.
1992	Founding of the Natura 2000 network , which aims to create a coherent network of special protected areas in the European Union.
1993	In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is created through the amalgamation of the Federal Research Institute for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (formerly the FRG) and the nature conservation institutions of the former GDR and other former bodies .
1995	Second European year of nature conservation
1998	The German Federal Nature Conservation Act is being amended. Innovations include specifications for the implementation of the European NATURA 2000 protected area system and numerous changes in the species protection section .
2000	By the Water Framework Directive of the EU water is declared the worth protecting natural heritage. The guideline is intended to regulate the use of bodies of water and groundwater.
2002	The environmental summit 10 years after Rio in Johannesburg adopts an action plan with which the extinction of species and the decline of natural resources is to be slowed.
2002	The German Federal Nature Conservation Act is being amended. The inclusion of provisions for the sustainable safeguarding of habitats and communities, animal and plant species and their populations is significant. In addition, the stipulation is made that at least ten percent of the land area should be made available for the creation of a biotope network, whereby a central goal should be to protect the core areas for nationally significant habitat types as well as animal and plant species and their populations over a large area and legally protected and connect with each other.
2006	Due to international nature conservation law (Habitats Directive, Bird Protection Directive) and relevant court rulings by the European Court of Justice, special species protection audits (saP) must be prepared as technical articles for infrastructure projects in Germany in order to deal with the requirements of species protection law.
2010	Amendment of the German Federal Nature Conservation Act . With the BNatSchG 2010 comprehensive, directly applicable full regulations will be created, which will replace the previous framework law when it comes into force on March 1, 2010. Since the federal states can adopt additional or different regulations in certain areas (cf. Art. 72 (3) GG), it is still necessary to regulate these deviations in the respective state nature conservation laws. As far as the federal law finally regulates, existing state nature conservation law is void. In most of the German federal states there are plans to adapt nature conservation law to the changed constitutional and federal legal framework in 2010. For the transitional period, the highest nature conservation authorities of the federal states are drafting ministerial application decrees and implementation instructions as an aid to interpretation.

literature

• Alfred Barthelmeß : Landscape, Human Habitat. Problems of landscape protection and maintenance are historically presented and documented . Orbis academicus. Special volume; 2.5: Problem history of nature conservation, landscape management and human ecology . 1988 Alber, Freiburg (Breisgau), ISBN 3-495-47621-0 .
• Hermann Behrens: The history of nature conservation in Thuringia. (Lexikon der Naturschutzbeauftragten, Volume 4, edited by the Institute for Environmental History and Regional Development at the University of Neubrandenburg), Steffen Verlag, Berlin, 772 pp., ISBN 978-3-9579900-4-4 .
• Hermann Behrens: Nature conservation history and nature conservation officer in Berlin and Brandenburg. (Lexicon of nature conservation officers. Volume 3, edited by the Institute for Environmental History and Regional Development at the University of Neubrandenburg) Steffen Verlag, Friedland 2010, 964 pp., ISBN 978-3-940101-83-9 .
• Franz-Josef Brüggemeier , Mark Cioc, Thomas Zeller (Eds.): How Green Were the Nazis ?: Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich. Ohio Univ. Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8214-1646-4 .
• Hans Werner Frohn, Friedemann Schmoll (Ed.): Nature and State. State nature protection in Germany 1906-2006 . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-7843-3935-2 .
• Stephan Alexander Glienke, Volker Paulmann, Joachim Perels (eds.): Success story Federal Republic? Post-war society in the long shadow of National Socialism . Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0249-5 .
• Gert Gröning: Nature Conservation and Democracy !? Documentation of the contributions to the event of the Foundation for the History of Nature Conservation and the Center for Garden Art and Landscape Architecture (CGL) at Leibniz University Hannover in cooperation with the Institute for the History and Theory of Design (GTG) at the University of the Arts Berlin. (Workshop Nature Conservation and Democracy 2004). Meidenbauer, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89975-077-2 .
• Bärbel Häcker: 50 years of nature conservation history in Baden-Württemberg. Contemporary witnesses report. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-4472-7 .
• Institute for Environmental History and Regional Development V. (Ed.): Environmental protection in the GDR. Analyzes and eyewitness reports. Edited by Hermann Behrens and Jens Hoffmann. (Volume 1: General conditions. Volume 2: Media and sectoral aspects. Volume 3: Professional, voluntary and voluntary environmental protection. ) Oekom-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-86581-059-5 .
• Willi Oberkrome : "German homeland". National conception and regional practice of nature conservation, landscape design and cultural policy in Westphalia-Lippe and Thuringia (1900 - 1960) . (Research on regional history 47; additional habilitation thesis University of Freiburg 2002/2003) Schöningh, Paderborn 2004, ISBN 3-506-71693-X .
• Wolfram Pflug: 200 years of land maintenance in Germany. An overview . In: Alfred C. Boettger, Wolfram Pflug (ed.): City and landscape. Space and time. Festschrift for Erich Kühn on the completion of his 65th year of life . Stadtbau-Verlag, Cologne 1969, DNB 458203963 .
• Joachim Radkau , Frank Uekötter (Ed.): Nature conservation and National Socialism . Campus, Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-593-37354-8 .
• Anke Schekahn: Agriculture and landscape planning. The tasks of agriculture from a planning perspective from the beginning of industrial society until today. (Working reports of the Urban Planning / Landscape Planning Department, Issue 128) University of Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89117-103-X . (also as a PDF file , accessed on April 3, 2010)
• Martin Schmid, Ortrun Veichtlbauer: From nature conservation to the ecological movement. Environmental history of Austria in the Second Republic Studies publishing house, Innsbruck / Vienna / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7065-4241-8 .
• Friedemann Schmoll: Memory of nature. The history of nature conservation in the German Empire . Campus, Frankfurt / Main 2004, ISBN 3-593-37355-6 .
• Walther Schoenichen: Nature conservation in the Third Reich. Introduction to the nature and fundamentals of contemporary nature conservation work . Bermühler, Berlin 1934. (Nature Conservation Library 12)
• Walther Schoenichen: Nature conservation as a national and international cultural task. An overview of the general, geological, botanical, zoological and anthropological problems of domestic and world nature conservation. G. Fischer, Jena 1942.
• Walther Schoenichen: Nature conservation, homeland protection. Their justification by Ernst Rudorff, Hugo Conwentz and their predecessors. Knowledge Verl.-Ges., Stuttgart 1954. (Great natural scientist 16)
• Foundation for the history of nature conservation (ed.): Waymarks. Contributions to the history of nature conservation . Festschrift for Wolfram Pflug (contributions to the symposium Aspects of the History of Nature Conservation in Germany. On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Prof. Wolfram Pflug on June 6-7, 1998 in collaboration with the Alfred Toepfer Academy for Nature Conservation in Wilsede). Klartext, Essen 2000, ISBN 3-88474-868-8 . (Publ. Foundation for the history of nature conservation 1)

Web links

• Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: 100 years of state nature conservation
• History of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union ( Memento from February 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Conservation history of the Soviets. Zone of occupation and the GDR

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the evidence: Numerous information in the article, as far as they concern Germany and are of an older date, come from W. Pflug (1969). Information on nature conservation in Germany can also be found on the BfN website on the subject of "100 Years of State Nature Conservation" from 2006. In addition, the information has been provided with a link to the respective articles as far as possible.
2. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: On natural science, mineralogy and geology, law and duty, 2-7; Aphorisms and fragments, observation and thought. Quoted from: Ernst Lautenbach: Lexicon Goethe Quotes. Selection for the 21st century from work and life , Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89129-800-5 , p. 746.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Rainer Koch, Gerhard Hachmann: “The absolute necessity of such nature conservation…” Philipp Leopold Martin (1815–1886): from bird conservationist to pioneer of national and international nature and species protection. In: Nature and Landscape. Issue 11, November 2011, p. 474.
4. ↑ Musée d'Orsay: The Forest of Fontainebleau. A life-size workshop. From Corot to Picasso. (No longer available online.) In: www.musee-orsay.fr. Archived from the original on June 6, 2016 ; accessed on June 6, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ Hans Klose: Ernst Rudorff's homeland under landscape protection. In: Conservation. 20, 1939 p. 121.
6. ^ Ernst Rudorff: Preservation of monuments and homeland protection. quoted from: Norbert Huse: Denkmalpflege. German texts from three centuries. Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-40544-4 , p. 151.
7. ↑ Nettmann, HK: In memory of Elisabeth Skwarra (1886-1945), zoologist and co-founder of ecological peatland research . In: Naturwiss. Association to Bremen (Ed.): Treatises . tape 43/1 . Bremen 1995, p. 197-207 .
8. ↑ Hans Schwenkel: Principles of landscape maintenance. Neudamm / Berlin, 1938, p. 104; quoted from: Anke Schekahn: Agriculture and landscape planning. The tasks of agriculture from a planning point of view from the beginning of industrial society until today , reports from the Department of Urban Planning / Landscape Planning, Issue 128, University of Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89117-103-X , p. 128 fn. 242.
9. ↑ Alwin Seifert: The future of the East German landscape. 1939, p. 201, quoted from: Anke Schekahn: Landwirtschaft und Landschaftsplanung. The tasks of agriculture from a planning point of view from the beginning of industrial society to the present day , reports from the Department of Urban Planning / Landscape Planning, Issue 128, University of Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89117-103-X , p. 120.
10. ↑ Andreas Dix: "After the 'Thousand Years': Landscape Planning in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the Early GDR". In: Joachim Radkau, Frank Uekötter (Ed.): Nature conservation and National Socialism. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / New York 2003, pp. 359f.
11. ↑ Herbert Ecke, Hans Klose (Ed.): Negotiations of German state and district commissioners for nature conservation and landscape management. IV. Workshop, Boppard a. Rhine 1950. Egestorf 1952, p. 86.