Aaron Ellison calls for conservation efforts across countries to offset the adverse effects of political borders on wildlife (Nature 508, 9; 2014). The European Green Belt (www.europeangreenbelt.org), which is converting former cold-war territory in central and eastern Europe into a network of protected conservation areas, is one such initiative that should serve as a model for other regions with a history of strife.

The European Green Belt was instigated in 2003 and stretches 12,500 kilometres along the former Iron Curtain, the political barrier that existed from 1945 until 1989. The belt consists of protected core areas, sustainable-use areas, ecological corridors and buffer zones, which provide linked habitats and migration routes for such animals as wolves, bears and lynxes, as well as for amphibians and birds.

Not least, it offers a symbol of reconciliation, enjoying the patronage of Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet Union president.