PAN Parks Perspectives for a Wilder Europe

Europe is without a doubt the continent where nature has been most affected by human influ- ence. Indeed the rich biodiversity found in some parts of the "old" continent are very interconnected with, and dependent upon, human management. The European landscape has been shaped through thousands of years of human activity and it is part of our cultural, social and economic heritage. Due to this close relationship between nature and human development, it is sometimes for- gotten that there are remains—even if only in small fragments covering altogether no more than about 1% of all territory—of small, yet important, areas of what can be called "virgin," "natural," "wild," or "wilderness" areas. These are areas where we can still find natural sys- tems where man has had only minimum influence. PAN Parks voluntarily shares practical lessons learnt on how to approach a wilderness area management, how to allow for an area of sustainable use, and how to enable local com- munities to derive benefit from the wilderness area. (Miko 2007)