Bavaria runs from the Danube up to the Alps, and between the two lies a country of dark forest, clear river, and lake. The Bavarian Forest, along the Czech border, holds something rare in Europe: a large area where management stopped and nature was simply allowed to take its course, including a bark beetle outbreak that killed the spruce across huge areas and horrified the public before the forest began, on its own terms, to regenerate into something wilder and more varied than what was lost.
That experiment made this one of the most instructive landscapes in European conservation. It demonstrated that a forest left alone does not die, it changes, and that the human instinct to tidy up after a disturbance is often the thing that impoverishes it. Lynx have returned to these woods, and wolves are following.
The organizations here defend the wilderness principle in the national parks, restore the moors and bogs of the alpine foreland, and protect rivers in a state that has dammed a great many of them. There is also a strong Bavarian tradition of citizen action: a popular petition to save the bees drew extraordinary support and forced real change in agricultural law.
Environmental Organizations in This Bioregion
25 organizations working across this landscape.
Bellevue di Monaco
The Bellevue di Monaco is a residential and cultural centre for refugees and other Munich citizens in the heart of the city, located at the corner of Müllerstrasse a...
Bergwaldprojekt e.V.
History and Organization In 1987, Wolfgang Lohbeck (Greenpeace Germany) and the Swiss forester Renato Ruf founded Bergwaldprojekt in relation to the ‘Waldsterben’-...
Char2Cool e.V.
Low cost, nature based carbon removal with water hyacinth a tropical weed
EUROPARC Federation
The EUROPARC Federation is the network for Europe’s natural and cultural heritage. Created by our members, the Federation works, to improve the management of Protec...
European Trails
European Trails e.V. unites trail organizations, advocates for trails, fosters collaboration, develops standards, and supports sustainable funding structures.
Fairventures Worldwide gGmbH
Fairventures Worldwide partners with smallholder farmers in the tropics to reforest degraded land and empowers them to generate their own sustainable income.
Mountain Wilderness Deutschland e.V.
Outdoor sports are booming and the number of tourist attractions in the mountains is increasing explosively. Mountain Wilderness is Germany's organisation for the pr...
One Earth - One Ocean e.V.
maritime plastic waste treatment
PATRON
CleanUP Events & awareness-raising Workshops for outdoor enthusiasts and Young PATRONS
Ploggworld gGmbH
Ploggworld motivates people to collect plastic during outdoor sports. Effortlessly, joyfully and with measurable impact.
Pro Ocean
Our Pro Ocean initiative in the Philippines fights ocean plastic pollution while creating fair, secure jobs for coastal communities. Every piece of plastic we remove...
Protect Our Winters (POW) Germany
"we turn our passion into purpose to protect what we love, our winters and the outdoors" POW supports passionate outdoor people to protect the places and lifestyles ...
Pure Water for Generations e.V.
Pure Water for Generations has the vision to make the Danube drinkable by 2042.
rehab republic e.V.
rehab republic e.V. is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with climate adaptation. Based in München, Germany, it is included in the IdealLocatio...
VAUNA - Verein f�_r Arten-, Umwelt- und Naturschutz e.V.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) Germany
WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, is an international nongovernmental organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of whales and dolphins. We protect...
Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) Germany
We work towards gender-equitable sustainable development, climate and energy justice, safe water and sanitation and a toxic-free future, working from the local to th...
Zero Waste Germany e.V.
We promote a real circular economy and waste prevention.