Twenty-two experts in forest ecology and conservation management from fourteen different European countries attended the Workshop at the Isle of Vilm. Their expectations at the beginning of the workshop can be summarised as follows:
- enhancing the insights in beech forest protection and biodiversity
- learning more about beech forest management and conserving values
- learning more about how to link a proper management and strict conservation of beech forests
- identification of the current situation of beech forests in Europe
- finding an alliance to give (natural) beech forests the role, that they preserve
This volume presents an overview of the bio-geographical distribution of beech forests in Europe,
their biodiversity attributes and current researches on the ecology, vegetation and conservation of European beech forests.
Of the various findings, the lack of an appropriate, consistent protection status on European scale has always been stressed by numerous authors. Moreover, the importance of a beech forest network, focusing on conservation not on technical (management) aspects, was prioritised.