During the Wilderness Academy days, Steve Carver from Wildland Research Institute c/o University of Leeds presented his experience of mapping wilderness in Europe
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Mapping wilderness in Europe with special focus on wilderness register
1. The Wilderness Continuum
and its practical implications
for wilderness protection
Steve Carver
Director, Wildland Research Institute
2. Outline
• Wilderness and the continuum
concept
• Approaches to mapping
• Patterns and distribution of
wilderness
– Environmental gradients
– Scaling issues
• Informing decisions
5. Nature and landscape
• Two views of wild(er)ness...
– Biophysical/ecological wild
– Perceived/aesthetic wild
• Influence how we map the
wilderness continuum
– Choice of attributes
– Need for proxy variables
14. Single vs multi-attribute models
• Single variable models:
– Roadless areas
• Multiple variable
models:
– Remoteness
(settlement, roads,
accessibility)
– Naturalness (land cover,
lack of human features)
16. Poselství from Prague
12. Finalisation of a definition of wilderness and wild areas, taking into
account the globally agreed definitions, criteria and characteristics and
the continuum of natural habitats and ecological processes, the range of
ecological and cultural interpretations of these terms and their
application in different parts of Europe.
13. Compilation of a Register of Wilderness using existing databases, such
as the EEA and WDPA, identifying in tandem with appropriate interested
parties the remaining areas of wilderness and wildlands, the threats and
opportunities related to these, and their economic values, with practical
recommendations for action.
14. Completion of mapping wilderness and wildland areas in Europe,
involving appropriate definitional and habitat criteria and level of scale
to effectively support plans for protecting and monitoring such areas.
15. Identification of key opportunities for prospective restoration of wild
natural habitats and processes, involving mapping, biodiversity design
and benefit assessment for relevant parties including local landholders
and communities.
20. Informing decisions
• Development control
• Designation
• Identification of
boundaries
• Zonation
• Protection measures
• Connectivity
• Targeted rewilding
21.
22. Iceland:
Fewer protected areas
Lots of wilderness
Mostly undesignated
Much opportunity for extended designation
Northern Scandinavia:
Many protected areas
Lots of wilderness
Some protected, some unprotected
Opportunity for extended designation
23. Scotland:
Many Natura 2000 areas
Some wild land
Some protected, some unprotected
Opportunity for further protection
BENELUX countries:
Many protected areas
No wilderness (except marine)
Only marine wilderness protected
Main focus on rewilding
24.
25. Conclusions
• Use GEOGRAPHY as basis for informed
decision-making
• Ways forward for European WQI
– Identifying wilderness areas in need of protection,
improvement and expansion
– Use WQI as the basis for improved connectivity
– Intelligent targeting of rewilding activities
As part of the new Wilderness Register for Europe, we have created a wilderness index based on combining spatial datasets on various attributes of European wilderness; namely, naturalness of vegetation, remoteness from settlement and other human infrastructure, and remoteness from roads (mechanised access).
#1-2. Maps of land cover, potential natural vegetation and grazing intensity are first combined to produce a map of overall naturalness of vegetation.
#3-4. This map is then combined with the maps of remoteness from settlement and infrastructure and remoteness from roads…
#5. …to give a final wilderness index for Europe.
#6. This is then classified to identify the top 1, 5 and 10% wildest areas in Europe. There is an obvious latitudinal and altitudinal pattern with the vast majority of wilderness areas shown in northern latitudes (northwest Europe… Scandinavia and NW Scotland), and in mountain areas further south (Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians).
Again, at the continental scale, the detail is a little hard to see, so by zooming in to particular regions we can get a better feel for the problem. Here the focus is on the wilderness areas of northern latitudes. Iceland has comparatively few protected areas, but a lot of wilderness that is currently left mostly undesignated (though Iceland does have wilderness protection laws). In northern Scandinavia, the picture is mixed, with some large areas protected by Natura 2000 and local designations, but some significant wilderness areas still undesignated.
Some countries returned no or comparatively few wilderness areas to the Register. Scotland (along with the rest of the UK) was unable to return any areas, yet has some relatively large areas of “wild land” significant areas of which can be seen to be lacking protection. The “low countries” have very little wilderness (except marine areas) but a relatively large number of protected areas. The emphasis here is rightly on rewilding or habitat restoration. However, where significant areas of high wilderness quality land exist, such as in the high latitude/high altitude areas, the emphasis ought to be on protection leaving rewilding initiatives to focus on marginal areas, abandoned farmland, and linking core wild areas with ecological corridors, wildlife friendly landscapes and stepping stones. Real wilderness should be designated as such, protected and largely left alone.