The Endangered Landscapes Programme is building a future in which landscapes are enriched with biodiversity, establishing resilient, more self-sustaining ecosystems that benefit both nature and people
Photo: Viktar Malyshchyc
Featured Project
Extensive and ethereal, Białowieża (Beloveshskaya Pushcha) is one of Europe’s last great primary forests. The outstanding biodiversity value of this UNESCO World Heritage Site includes one-quarter of the world’s European bison among 59 mammal species plus an astonishing 12,000 invertebrate species. Following decades of exploitation and drainage in the Belarus part of the forest and recent controversial logging in Poland, however, Białowieża is under threat.
Building on experience from Belarus, the project will plan landscape-level restoration of the forest’s hydrology. It intends to adopt a transboundary approach to address the international stalemate over Poland’s intensive logging. The project envisages that returning groundwater to near-natural levels should enable the rewetting of forests, up to 20,000 ha of drained mires and formerly straightened riverbeds.
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New footage from Turkey is showing that conservation efforts are paying off, as several Mediterranean monk seals have been spotted using one cave in the project area. These sightings provide exciting prospects for monk seal protection and future breeding in the area – a key priority for the ELP-funded Gökova Bay to Cape Gelidonya project,…
23rd April 2021
Since 1990, our planet has lost over 80 million hectares of old-growth forest. 64% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since 1900. And one million species are currently threatened with extinction. In Europe, nature is in…
April 12, 2021
From 26 March – 4 April 2021, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative hosted ‘Earth Optimism Cambridge’– a ten-day festival which aimed…
April 7, 2021
Nature-based businesses often operate more effectively when they work together, multiplying the benefits for themselves, their clients as well as…
March 26, 2021
