{"id":2804,"date":"2020-10-12T13:01:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T11:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/?p=2804"},"modified":"2020-10-12T13:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T11:01:26","slug":"in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/","title":{"rendered":"IN MEMORIAM Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We mourn the loss of Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis on the 20th of September, 2020. Lithuanian society, science, nature conservation and cultural heritage communities, as well as a small family of peatland restoration practitioners and international team of the project LIFE Peat Restore lost Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis, an outstanding person, whose whole life was dedicated to the investigation and protection of natural and cultural heritage, restoration of Lithuanian independence, maintenance of national identity and Lithuanian language, and sincere concern for the future of Europe\u2019s wetlands. The Professor was an initiator of the restoration of Lithuanian wetlands, he was a bright person full of progressive ideas, determined to implement them in practice, a caring and sincere colleague, generous Teacher and Mentor, educated many doctors of natural sciences and nature conservationists. In the first days of 2021, we would be celebrating his glorious 80th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After\ngraduating from the Faculty of Forestry of the Lithuanian Academy of\nAgriculture in 1963 Romas Pakalnis started working as a forestry engineer. In\n1971, he finished his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Botany of the\nLithuanian Academy of Sciences. He defended his dissertation \u201cInvestigation of\nthe dynamics and ecological optimum of the major components of a hilly\nlandscape with lakes\u201d at Vilnius University Council. He had an active research\ncareer as  a researcher at the Institute\nof Botany and also Head of the Laboratory of Landscape Ecology (1981\u20132010). In\n1989, during the first democratic elections, he was elected as a Director of\nthe Institute of Botany (Vilnius) for 14 years. Together with the Habil. Dr\nKazimieras \u0116ringis created an original school of landscape ecology in\nLithuania. He taught the disciplines of Landscape ecology and Sustainable development\nto students of Lithuanian University of Educology and \u0160iauliai University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof.\nDr Romas Pakalnis was interested in many areas such as innovations in science\nand education, problems of preserving natural and cultural heritage,\nmaintenance of Lithuanian identity, national language and the Lithuanian State.\nRomas Pakalnis was the secretary of the Lithuanian National Committee for the\nInternational Programme \u201cMan and Biosphere\u201d (1981\u20131985), an active member of\nLithuanian Independence Movement \u201cS\u0105j\u016bdis<\/em>\u201d\n(political organisation, which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in\nthe late 1980s and early 1990s). He participated in the establishment of the first\nprotected areas in Lithuania. He was a Chairman of the Radio and Television\nCommission of Lithuania (2002\u20132008) and the Lithuanian National Commission for\nUNESCO (2009\u20132018) as well. The professor is a co-author of National Integrated\nNature Protection Scheme (1984), General Concept of Education (1992),\nLithuanian environmental strategy (1995), Biodiversity conservation strategy\nand action plan Republic of Lithuania (1998); Lithuanian National Strategy for\nSustainable Development (2003), was active in many citizenship committees. From\n2010 until 2020 Romas Pakalnis intensively worked in the system of the State\nService for Protected Areas under the Ministry of Environment of the Republic\nof Lithuania, where he paid a lot of attention to the management of Natura 2000\nsites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof.\nRomas Pakalnis authored over 220 research and science communication publications\non ecology, botany, environment protection and nature conservation issues.\nRomas Pakalnis participated in ecological expertise of significance in\nLithuanian industry objects: International Sea Ferry-line (Klaip\u0117da), oil\nenterprises, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Kruonis Hydro Power Plant, Liquefied\nNatural Gas terminal in the Klaip\u0117da Seaport, assessed the damage caused to\nLithuanian nature by the USSR military bases, fought against the exploitation\nof oil platforms established in the vicinity of the Curonian Spit, elaborated primary\nstrategic environmental legislation after Lithuania regained independence, etc.\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to have been involved in\ndisputes on important objects for Lithuania<\/em>\u201d, \u2013 said the researcher. He was\none of the developers of the ideas about the Natural Framework, the initiator\nof Lithuania\u2019s accession to the European Landscape Convention and the co-author\nof Lithuanian\u2019s Landscape Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nthe last fifteen years Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis worked at the Institute of\nBotany, later at the State Service for Protected Areas and the Lithuanian Fund\nfor Nature, paid attention to the protection and restoration of Lithuanian\nwetlands. He was interested in peatlands since the early years of his\nprofessional career starting with research and initiating restoration projects.\nIn 1968, together with the Head of the Laboratory of Landscape Ecology, Prof.\nHabil. Dr K. Eringis, prepared recommendations for the protection of the\ncentral part of the forested Polyma bog (Utena district), which was planned to\nbe drained during the intensive reclamation period in the Soviet era and in\nthis way to expand the areas of perennial cultural pastures. Thanks to these\nrecommendations, it became possible to influence the functionaries \u2013 a\nreclamation project was modified, and the central part (about 9 ha) of the\nwetland complex was preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forest and mires were among his favourite and most beloved objects of interest. His works in peatland restoration are more known for starting to restore the world-famous Aukstumala raised bog and initiating the installation of protective measures to isolate the raised bog from adjacent peat harvesting fields. Later he continued ecological restoration activities in Auk\u0161tumala raised bog as a member and generator of ideas within the project LIFEAukstumala<\/em> (2013\u20132017; www.aukstumala.lt<\/em>). The professor initiated the translation into Lithuanian of the first scientific monograph in the world about the raised bog, written in 1901 by German botanist Dr C.A. Weber. In the introduction to the Lithuanian edition of the monograph, Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis noted that the LIFE project \u201c… will help to improve the condition of the protected raised bog in the Auk\u0161tumala Telmological Reserve. Unfortunately, it will never be what Dr C.A. Weber described 114 years ago\u201d. <\/em>Romas Pakalnis was extremely happy accompanying the grandson and great-grandson of the famous Professor C.A. Weber to the Auk\u0161tumala raised bog and the Nemunas River Delta in 2017. The Professor repeatedly hinted that it was a great happiness and honour for him to work in Auk\u0161tumala.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he was involved in the activities of Lithuanian Fund for Nature related to the LIFE Peat Restore<\/em> project, dedicated to the restoration of drained peatlands and mitigation of climate change. Romas Pakalnis paid particular attention to rehabilitation of extracted part of Auk\u0161tumala peatland by establishing Sphagnum<\/em> mosses. Just a month ago, the Professor regretted that due to unexpected health problems and unfavourable circumstances in the world in 2020, he did not visit Auk\u0161tumala raised bog and the experimental Sphagnum<\/em> planting field established in 2019. Still, he sincerely believed that he would visit it later this year. In 2019, during the international conference in Grodno (Belaruss), Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis said: \u201cLife is very short… we must preserve mires so that we would have a possibility to sit on the <\/em>Sphagnum hummock and think where we are in a hurry…<\/em>\u201d. Life is very short\u2026 We, his team and followers, colleagues and friends will continue that great work on the restoration of Lithuanian peatlands, started by Romas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We mourn the loss of Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis on the 20th of September, 2020. Lithuanian society, science, nature conservation and cultural heritage communities, as well as a small family of peatland restoration practitioners and international team of the project LIFE Peat Restore lost Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis, an outstanding person, whose whole life was … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":2810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIN MEMORIAM Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis - LIFE Peat Restore<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IN MEMORIAM Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis - LIFE Peat Restore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We mourn the loss of Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis on the 20th of September, 2020. Lithuanian society, science, nature conservation and cultural heritage communities, as well as a small family of peatland restoration practitioners and international team of the project LIFE Peat Restore lost Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis, an outstanding person, whose whole life was … read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LIFE Peat Restore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-12T11:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-12T11:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/prof-romas-pakalnis-renka-kiminu-donorine-medziaga.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1613\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/\",\"name\":\"LIFE Peat Restore\",\"description\":\"Climate change mitigation by means of rewetting peatlands\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/prof-romas-pakalnis-renka-kiminu-donorine-medziaga.jpg\",\"width\":2420,\"height\":1613},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/life-peat-restore.eu\/en\/in-memoriam-prof-dr-romas-pakalnis\/\",\"name\":\"IN MEMORIAM Prof. Dr Romas Pakalnis - 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