The Vision of the Countryside season 2 03 | it is not romantic and naive to maintain the rural landscape. Solid ecological research in Germany saves the century-old legend of Meinuo Sheep.

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Wen / Baohua Communication Project Song Ruozhen

In Taiwan, it always seems naive and romantic to maintain the ecology of the rural landscape. In rural areas, front-line environmental conservation operators are often challenged like this. "do you think this development will affect groundwater recharge and water quality?" "tell me not to weed the ridges of the fields to make habitat for migratory birds. Do you want to help me pull up weeds in spring ploughing?" And is there really a difference between me? " "We can't live any longer. Do you want me to take care of those cats?" Isn't it because there are a lot of ethnic groups that you can still be hit by a car? " ... ..

The documentary "Vision in the Countryside" season 2, episode 3, through the story of the beautiful sheep in the Schwaben Valley in Germany, shows the audience how Germany can face the same sharp questions with solid ecological research, and reverse the sunset industry of sheep herding.

Public TV _ Vision of the Countryside _ season 2 _ Heathland of juniper Ganyuan in the Schwaben Valley, Germany, a wonderful beauty jointly created by nature and human beings

"Oh, you're going to Swaben, where we're going to spend the summer SPA next week," Mr. Albert of Huaiyang happily shared with us in the record-breaking heat wave of nearly 40 degrees. The Schwaben Valley in southwestern Germany is such a good place for Germans to go on vacation. In this limestone valley about the size of Hualien and Taitung, stalactite caves, currents, springs and hot springs form a beautiful landscape, admiring the miraculous craftsmanship of nature.

At the same time, driving through the valley, it is hard not to notice that the landscape of the valley is somewhat consistent: forests on one side of the hillside, sparse meadows on the other, clumps of thorn trees. This kind of hay with prickly plants is called "juniper dry Heathland". It is not only the miraculous craftsmanship of nature, but also the wonderful creation of nature and human beings.

Public TV _ foresight in Rural areas _ second quarter _ Schwaben Valley, Germany (Photo courtesy / Public TV) in order to maintain ecology, sheep industry needs to be saved in the setting sun.

We have learned from the junior high school geography textbooks that as long as it is limestone topography, then this area is a place with poor soil, difficult access to water, and detrimental to agricultural development, as is the case in the Schwaben Valley. Because it is not easy to grow crops, the sheep herding industry has been developed here since the Middle Ages. According to the season, shepherds lead flocks in the valley and live in pursuit of aquatic plants.

Sheep graze all the way through the valleys, jumping over prickly juniper shrubs, silver thistles, wing thistles and other plants, thus forming a unique landscape of "juniper dry land". Because sheep herding has created agricultural cultural landscapes such as juniper Ganyuan, biodiversity has become rich.

Although the farming conditions were not easy, the people of the valley also found a way out by virtue of the sheep herding industry, and with the peak of the wool textile industry in the first half of the 19th-20th century, gave birth to world-famous men's clothing brands such as Hugo Boss. However, when wool is no longer the main raw material for the textile industry and is transformed into selling mutton, it cannot match the price of mutton imported from New Zealand, the sheep industry in the Swaben Valley is facing severe challenges.

Just imagine, under such circumstances, how can landscape scientists and ecologists convince everyone to "maintain the unique landscape of juniper dry for thousands of years"? Probably when you yell, you will be choked and say, "well, then why don't you come to shepherd?"

Public TV _ foresight in Rural areas _ second quarter _ Schwaben Valley, Germany (Photo courtesy / Public TV) to set up "Community Habitat Biotope" for environmental survey

Letting data and evidence speak is the way rigorous Germans always do things. In order to manage and formulate the future direction, regular population censuses, cadastral clearance, and industrial and commercial censuses can be said to be the cornerstones of modern state operation.

What about the environmental census? Germany developed very early with national laws to protect the natural environment. Since the 1970s, the establishment of "Community Habitat Biotope" has been used to conduct environmental surveys to encircle biological habitats with an area of more than 50 square meters and worthy of protection for legal protection. Community habitat Biotope is a biological habitat worth protecting. The Biotope type of community habitat can be a piece of dry juniper Heathland, a rock with rare vegetation, and a ridge that is used by birds as habitat.

Such environmental censuses, like population censuses and industrial and commercial censuses, are conducted every few years, and the information is accumulated in the open database, which has become the most solid statistical information for environmental impact assessment. It has also trained a large number of professionals related to ecology and landscape, so that everyone can know which community habitats Biotope are worth protecting. (environmental Information system in Baden-W ü rttemberg, Germany)

It is in such a long process of investigation and research that ecologists and landscapes have found that the dry plain of juniper has a high degree of biodiversity and is of great conservation value. Moreover, in summer, sheep are only raised in the Swabi Valley, and in winter they are moved to the Rhine Valley in the Upper Swabi region. Therefore, with the nomadic route, sheep become the ark of animals and plants around the country. It can be said that the sheep industry has enhanced the ecological diversity of the entire state of Baden-W ü rttemberg. In this way, juniper dry is very important, the sheep industry is more important, is no longer just an emotional call, but has a solid scientific basis.