Liveblog: Annette Voigt on Landscape Conservation

Annette Voigt Technische Universität München Dept. of Landscape Ecology
Nature Conversation in Germany – Problems and Perspectives

Today's talk explored questions about the meaning of nature in a place like Germany, where there remains an active dialogue about whether conservation should be favoring natural or cultural landscapes, especially since 19th century agricultural landscapes are treasured by much of the public. This process is pursued to preserve the Germany of the past:

• Heimatschutz = Homeland conservation

Ecologists are less positioned to address the meaning of nature and simply rely on concepts like wilderness and ecosystems as subjective constructs as a convenience.

As an example she described the wilderness development area at Koenigsbrucker Heide in Saxony. Her dissertation abstract is available to help you digest some of these concepts.

(I know little about these ideas, but it looks like this might be an interesting read, too)