German Green Belt

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The Green Belt consists of land along the former border between East and West Germany.

The German Green Belt (Grünes Band Deutschland in German) is a project of Bund Naturschutz, one of Germany's largest environmental groups. The project was begun in 1989.

1 Origin
2 Planning
3 Implementation
4 Species
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Origin

On the former inner German border, there is a strip of land approximately 1400 km long (with an area of more than 100 km²) that remained nearly untouched since the construction of the Berlin Wall. The government of GDR wanted a distance between the fence and the actual border, in order to arrest or even shoot people who managed to pass the fence. It stretches from Travemünde on the Baltic to the Czech border, near Hof in Bavaria. A number of endangered species can be found there.

[edit] Planning

The Bund Naturschutz wants to exert pressure on the Bundesländer to designate several areas as nature reserves and has appealed for donations from the public to enable Bund Naturschutz to acquire properties along the Green Belt.

[edit] Implementation

In 2001 and 2002, the areas and the different species living there were catalogued, with financial support from the German Federal Ministry of the Environment.

[edit] Species

The green belt, near Sorge and Hohegeiß in the Harz.

There are a number of valuable habitats in the Green Belt. The Whinchat, the red-backed Shrike, the Black Stork, the Kingfisher and the European Otter are some of the species that can be found there.