Fruitful Exchange of Historians and Nature Conservationists
In the framework of the European Cultural Heritage Year (ECHY) 2018 the international conference “Iron Curtain and Green Belt – Networks and Opportunities for cooperation in a European border landscape” took place from 17 to 19 June 2018 in Berlin (Germany).
In the framework of the European Cultural Heritage Year (ECHY) 2018 the international conference “Iron Curtain and Green Belt – Networks and Opportunities for cooperation in a European border landscape” took place from 17 to 19 June 2018 in Berlin (Germany). Historians and nature conservationists discussed at the steeped in history “Berlin Wall Memorial visitors centre” and exchanged about synergies in preserving the European Green Belt as an ecological network and the historical revision of the Iron Curtain. Liana Geidezis (Head of BUND Department Green Belt) and Uwe Riecken (German Agency for Nature Conservation, BfN) presented the European Green Belt Initiative and Association. Examples of activities along the Green Belt Austria-Hungary and Germany-Czech Republic illustrated the manifold work to preserve natural and cultural heritage along the former Iron Curtain.
The results of the feasibility study World Heritage Green Belt (funded by BfN) were presented and intensively discussed. It was underlined that the European Green Belt is of outstanding importance as European memorial landscape with the potential to be nominated as UNESCO World Heritage site if specific pre-conditions are fulfilled. Joint efforts to preserve the natural and cultural heritage should be intensified.
The conference was jointly organized by the Berlin Wall Foundation, the German branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the State Conservation Agency of Berlin, the Brandenburg State Office for Monuments and the Archaeological State Museum, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), IUCN and BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany).