Nature - Thousands of volunteers help to protect nature
They map plant species or report migratory birds: around 3,000 volunteers in Lower Saxony are involved in nature conservation work for the state authority every year. This was announced by the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation on the occasion of the International Volunteer Day on December 5.
Without this data and the volunteer commitment, many findings about the animal and plant world, as well as the implementation of conservation projects, would hardly be conceivable. Numerous nature conservation tasks could not be fulfilled in Lower Saxony.
According to the authority, more than 3,000 citizens from the coast to the Harz mountains recently reported their observations of animal species and 1,500 volunteers reported their observations of plant species in their free time as part of the state-wide species protection program. The data collected in this way is processed and evaluated by the specialist nature conservation authority. Since the programs began in 1977 and 1983, a total of more than 2.8 million reports have been collected.
Without the help of the volunteers, it would hardly be possible in a large state like Lower Saxony to record the occurrence of animal and plant species and thus protect endangered species, the state authority added. "Only long-term observation of nature can draw attention to undesirable developments at an early stage and enable countermeasures to be taken - species therefore need data," said State Agency Director Anne Rickmeyer. It would not be possible to map the flora and fauna of Lower Saxony even remotely comprehensively with full-time staff alone.
In addition to species protection, volunteers are also involved in the work of the State Ornithological Institute, according to the state agency. There are also around 75 volunteer bat advisors and almost 150 wolf advisors in Lower Saxony.
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Source: www.stern.de
