World Natural Heritage Site Serrahn

The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and came into effect in 1975. The central idea behind the convention is “[the consideration] that parts of the cultural or natural heritage are of outstanding interest and therefore need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of mankind as a whole”. This means that certain cultural monuments and natural heritage sites should not belong to their respective countries but should ideally be seen as the property of the entire human race. Today the World Heritage List includes more than 800 cultural and natural sites, 32 of which can be found in Germany. In Europe, cultural sites dominate the list. In Germany only two natural heritage sites are included in the list; the Messel Pit Fossil Site in Hessen and the Wadden Sea. Beech forests formerly made up the landscape of central Europe. Without the influence of man this would still be the case today. The last remaining primeval beech forests in Germany are currently being selected for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the Müritz National Park an area of beech forest approx. 244 ha large around Serrahn is to be nominated a World Natural Heritage Site. To protect the future heritage site a 2,142 ha large buffer zone is planned. The grand dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were passionate about hunting and for this reason the forests around Serrahn are virtually untouched. Forestry use played a minor role. From a modern point of view a valuable and unique natural area was able to be created. The Serrahn beech forest represents the alkaline-poor varieties of the lowland beech forest.
Included in the nomination are the Jasmund National Park (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Hainich (Thuringia) and Kellerwald-Edersee (Hessen) as well as the Grumsiner Forst nature reserve in the UNESCO Biosphere Schorfheide-Chorin (Brandenburg). These are all examples of the most valuable, ancient, primeval beech forest in Germany and excellently complement the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in Slovakia “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians”.

More information can be found at www.weltnaturerbe-buchenwaelder.de.