In response to the alarming worldwide decline of biodiversity, in 1992 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. Germany ratified the Convention in 1993. The 7th Conference of Parties to the CBD in Kuala Lumpur (COP 7) adopted the „Programme of Work on Protected Areas“ (CBD VII/28, 2004) which emphasizes the importance of protected areas in achieving the objectives of the Convention. This work programme requires the parties to establish at a national level a system of protected areas to be preserved and further developed; it should be representative in a landscape ecological view but also be managed effectively.
