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Biodiversity Means Life

Biodiversity is our life


Human beings belong to the rich biodiversity of nature and have the power to protect or destroy it.
You are integral part of nature. Your fate is deeply linked to the fate of biodiversity, to this great variety of animals and plants, as well as to the environments they live in and to their surroundings, and this is valid for the whole world.
You share the planet with almost 13 million different living species including plants, animals, and bacteria, out of which only 1.75 millions have been identified and described. This extraordinary richness is an inestimable treasure and represents the real foundations of your well-being. The systems and processes collectively generated by these millions of "neighbors" produce your food, the water you drink, and the air you breathe... the essential principles of life.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and, all over the world, many people work to protect this irreplaceable natural richness and to reduce the loss of biodiversity. This is vital for the present and future well-being of mankind.

National parks were born to preserve biodiversity. For this reason, many projects of Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park are dedicated to the study and safeguard of the animal and vegetable species populating it.
These are the main actions of the Park on the issue of biodiversity (in brackets, you will find the year in which they have been carried out):

Animals Special Project (2001-2002) It "took the stock of the situation" on the wildlife knowledge of the Park and suggested new study and preservation projects for the period 2002-2012.

Aquilalp (2001-2004) It is a project for the study and preservation of the Golden Eagle in Eastern Alps, carried out together with other Italian Parks and the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria.

Reintroduction of the Marmot (2006-2008) The project enabled the return of a characteristic animal of the alpine grasslands to Dolomiti Bellunesi, where it had been almost disappeared.

Atlas of the Nesting Birds (2007-2010) It is the Park contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity. It will be published in 2010 and will include the results of three years of ornithological surveys in the protected area.

Biodiversity hotspot (2007-2010) A research project dedicated to the bats of the Park, the grasshoppers populating the grasslands, and the invertebrates populating the caves. It has led to the discovery of 5 new species for science. The results will be published in 2010: it is the second contribution of the Park to the International Year of Biodiversity.

Project Griffon Vulture (2009-2012) Carried out in association with LIPU and co-financed by Fondazione Cariverona. It aims at creating in the Park a population of this vulture, essential to "close" the cycles of the natural ecosystems.

Biodiversity is not only uncontaminated nature: the survival of many animal and vegetable species depends on traditional agricultural activities. In order to preserve it, the Park has also carried out these projects:

Cultivated Biodiversity (1999-2001) A census activity dedicated to the ancient fruit and vegetables varieties, associated with an anthropological study, because biodiversity is also cultural.

Recovering Mountain Pastures (2001-2003) It enabled the creation of a digital land register of the meadows and pastures of the Park: caskets of biodiversity linked to the millenary summer mountain grazing activity.

Forestry Special Project (1999-2001) Dedicated to the Park woods, that have been registered, mapped, and classified according to their vegetable composition. It provides technical information to better manage and preserve them.

Cutting the Meadows (2009-2011) A pilot project co-financed by Fondazione Cariverona to cut the mountain meadows now abandoned by man and threatened by the advance of the wood.


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