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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One year ago, in November 2019, restoration efforts in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta were given a significant boost. Under the ELP-funded Danube Delta project, ten obsolete dams were removed from three rivers within the Danube Biosphere Reserve; the Koglinik, Sarata and Kagach Rivers. The dams were originally constructed in the Soviet era, when…
27th November 2020
The scenic shores of the Azov-Black Sea coastal area – an internationally important wildlife corridor – stretch for 800km from…
November 19, 2020
Managing the coexistence of humans and wildlife can be a tricky business, particularly when apex predators are present. While these…
November 5, 2020
By Dr Adham Ashton-Butt, Senior Research Ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (project partner in the ELP-funded Polesia project)…
October 23, 2020
