Erik Buchwald
Organisation
Ministry of Environment, Nature Agency, Division of Nature Planning and BiodiversityField of expertise
ecoloical networks, large herbivores in DenmarkCountries
About
Head of Section, Forester and Ecologist, Master of Forestry, Copenhagen
Field of expertise: Natura 2000 legislation and implementation, Natura 2000 species; plant species and their reactions to grazing; use of large herbivores in nature management.
I am combined forester and naturalist and have since 1987 worked in the Danish Nature Agency especially with Natura 2000 issues and formerly with the Danish Strategy for Natural Forests. Large herbivores play a key role in our efforts to manage Natura 2000 sites including management of the herbivore populations themselves. But we see the herbivores as key players/instruments to achieve favorable conservation status of a number of other species and habitats.
Since 1992 I have followed the discussions on prehistoric grazing pressure and landscape openness closely and have been active in the POLlen-LANDscape CALibration (POLLANDCAL) Network in order to better understand pollen interpretations. My studies show that a number of plant species can be used as indicators of grazing pressure, and that grazing must have been important also in the primeval (forest) landscape of the so-called Atlantic time - just before the Neolithic in northwestern Europe.
- EU Expert Group on Reporting Natura 2000 issues
- EU Scientific Working Group /Habitats Directive
- FAO expert group on forest terminology
- Botanical Society of Denmark
Other experiences: Natural Forest ecology and terminology, prehistoric pollen interpretation, Danish and northern European primeval landscape interpretation and variability.