Greening Eastern Europe

Remember the Cold War? Those chilly, anxious years when a thick cordon of armaments and soldiers separated east from west, communism from capitalism. When we lived in perpetual fear that the third, and probably last, World War might break out at any minute. Well it turns out years later that there may have been an upside to all the upheaval and drama: it may have been good for the environment.

Governments and environmental groups are turning the so-called “death strip” between Western and Eastern Europe into one of the largest nature preserves on earth. The 4,000-plus-mile zone, which ran from the Arctic Ocean to the Adriatic is being turned into an environmental and touristfriendly greenbelt that could develop into an eco-tourist’s paradise.

It’s all because during the Cold War, the West and the East each turned their side of the strip into incredibly heavily armed and patrolled camps. The result was that in the strip itself – a no-man’s land – there was virtually no human interference, allowing animals and vegetation to flourish.

The fall of Eastern Europe has already allowed parks like Finland’s Oulanka National Park to unite with the four-times-larger Paanajärvi National Park in Russia, and Germany’s Bavarian Forest has been united with the Czech Republic’s Sumava National Park to offer 350 miles of wilderness.

The project could cost millions, and many governments still have to reach agreements, but for the irony alone, this is worth supporting.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Under-reported. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.