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Nomination and inscription of the “Ancient Beech Forests of Germany” as natural World Heritage: multi-level governance between science and politics

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Abstract

In 2011, five German beech forest areas were declared to be part of the World Heritage property “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany.” Thus, they now share the same status as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and East Africa’s Serengeti. This paper analyzes the science–policy interface behind the nomination and inscription process in the multi-level governance setting of the World Heritage Convention. Using the Research–Integration–Utilization (RIU) model of scientific knowledge transfer, we identify and analyze different actors’ roles in the spheres of Research, Integration and Utilization across different governance levels, from the German federal states to the World Heritage Committee. In addition, the RIU model serves to normatively examine the process and determine quality criteria that were useful for a successful inscription as World Heritage. The paper highlights the opportunities of using scientific knowledge in the multi-level governance of international conventions.

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Fig. 1

Source: Heim and Böcher (2016, p. 161), slightly adapted

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Notes

  1. Until 2013, “Bundesmisterium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit” (BMU). For consistency, we use the abbreviation “BMUB” throughout the article.

  2. The Ukrainian/Slovak nomination was inscribed in 2007 by the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO 2007, p. 145 f.).

  3. The five component parts had been put onto a tentative list by 2007, fulfilling the relevant UNESCO requirement (UNESCO 2015, para 62–76).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) under Grant 3513810200. The authors would like to thank the BfN, BMUB and “Länder” officials who supplied relevant documents for analysis and participated in expert interviews. They would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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  1. Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Konstantinstr. 110, 53179, Bonn, Germany

    Janina Heim

  2. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Büsgenweg 3, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Max Krott

  3. Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Zschokkestr. 32, 39016, Magdeburg, Germany

    Michael Böcher

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Correspondence to Janina Heim.

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Heim, J., Krott, M. & Böcher, M. Nomination and inscription of the “Ancient Beech Forests of Germany” as natural World Heritage: multi-level governance between science and politics. Int Environ Agreements 18, 599–617 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-018-9407-z

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