Gornje Podunavlje
Gornje Podunavlje | |
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Serbian Cyrillic: Горње Подунавље | |
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
Location | Apatin, Sombor and Odžaci, Vojvodina, Serbia |
Nearest city | Sombor |
Coordinates | 45°45′50″N 18°55′34″E / 45.7639°N 18.9261°E |
Area | 196.48 km2 (75.86 sq mi) |
Established | 1955 2001 |
www | |
Designated | 13 November 2007 |
Reference no. | 1737[1] |
Gornje Podunavlje Special Nature Reserve (Serbian: Специјални резерват природе Горње Подунавље, romanized: Specijalni rezervat prirode Gornje Podunavlje) is a large protected area of wetland in the northwest of Serbia (Vojvodina province), on the Danube's left bank. It comprises two large marshes, Monoštorski Rit and Apatinski Rit and vast forests, meadows, ponds, swamps and the Danube's meanders, including 66 km (41 mi) of the Danube course (1366 – 1433 km). It is a part of the trans-boundary biosphere reserve "Mura-Drava-Danube", a five country project, dubbed the "Amazon of Europe".[2][3]
The name means "Upper Danube Valley". Parts of the nature reserve are subject to the Croatia–Serbia border dispute; Croatia claims some areas under Serbian control on the eastern side of the river.
Protection
Background
In the past 200 years, the amelioration of the area, especially the draining of the marshes, reduced once vastly spread wetland ecosystems in the Pannonian Basin to several patches along the major rivers. During that period, the rivers in the Bačka region were turned into the canals. Obsolete ideas of turning the natural streams into canals without gravel or sand in their beds was done allegedly for better sailing and floods prevention. However, in time dozens of plant and animal species disappeared and even the human population was affected by this process: fish catch diminished and underground waters, used for drinking, were not being purified through the soil anymore.[2]
Establishment
The first designation as a protected area dates back to 1955, when an area of 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) was proposed as an important habitat for the
Level of protection
Within the reserve, there is a three-level zonation system established: protection regimes of category I (1.3%), II (24.7%) and III (74.0%). There is a huge biodiversity of Gornje Podunavlje Reserve. More than 150 bird species occur regularly in the reserve, amongst which a lot of threatened ones. It is an area of important aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation, wet meadows and native lowland forests composed of
A project "Partnership for the living Danube" was established in 2007. Within the scopes of the project, 37 ha (91 acres) of Gornje Podunavlje's wetlands were revitalized. A new method of removing the wooden and shrub vegetation, which suffocated the life in and around the ponds of Sarkanj and Semenjača, was implemented. A mosaic of natural habitats (wet meadows-saline marshes-water "mirrors") was restored. Floating plant colonies were also restored and regenerated:
Gornje Podunavlje is also declared an
Trans-boundary Biosphere Reserve
Gornje Podunavlje is part of the vast Central Danube Floodplains, the large trans-boundary floodplain in the middle Danube, along the route of the southern
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
The reserve was officially designated
Wildlife
As one of the last integral floodplains of the Danube, it contains some of the most valuable wetland habitats and therefore is a sanctuary for many species, which with their lifecycles, is inherently connected to the river.
Plant life
Natural poplar, oak and willow forests and occasionally flooded
Animal life
The reserve is home to 20 species of amphibians and reptiles and a numerous invertebrates, including over 60 species of butterflies. Gornje Podunavlje is a habitat of numerous fish species which find ideal spawning conditions in the oxbows and shallow shoals of the emanated river, including the critically endangered species of
References
- ^ "Gornje Podunavlje". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Aleksandra Mijalković (28 May 2017), "Oživele šume i rukavci", Politika-Magazin No. 1026 (in Serbian), pp. 26–27
- ^ a b "A Transboundary Biosphere Reserve for the benefit of nature and people". 2017.
- ^ "23 new sites added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves". UNESCO. 14 June 2017.