SO22 Nature protection

Key Information

Summary

The nature region Vienna-Györ is characterised by the water bodies of Danube, Lake Neusiedl and their surrounding floodplain forests, protected as Natura 2000 areas and National Parks. They are bordered by agricultural areas, settlements, agglomerations and linked traffic areas. Natural (waters, woods, reeds) and cultivated areas form a patchwork habitat. It is recognized that mowing and extensive grazing are measures to maintain habitats and species protected by Habitats (Fauna and Flora)- or Birds Directive. In the course of the project the ecological relevance of further anthropogenic use for species protection should be set. E.g. some orchids colonize pioneer sites on dams, resulting from flood protection or railway constructions. Solid data about ground beetles show the species conservation value of organic cultivation. The importance of their interconnectedness with FFH-Habitats lies in the project focus. Through combination of common conservation measures with crop farming actions innovative landscaping activities will be developed to improve the protection of Habitats- or Birds Directive species.

Using the example of the Viennese Danube Floodplains the results shall serve to increase natural areas in conformity with the national park whilst improving biodiversity and resilience. The optimization of both is also the focal point of the hungarian example.

Public gardens, being implemented in Mosonmagyarovar and Vienna, will reveal the complex information in an attractive way.

Essential is the joining of internationally recognised research by SZE in cutting-edge crop production on alluvial soils with the specific BFA-expertise in the field of species protection by organic farming and the experience of the ground area manager MA 49.

The outcome of the project will be transferable to other european lowland protection areas.

Key Information

Summary

Minimising the loss of species by creating habitats for endangered plant and animal species in municipalities and private gardens through linking natural living spaces is the goal of the project. The project area of "Living Gardens", the cross-border region Austria/Hungary, is located in the unique Pannonian region where new solution aproaches for species protection are transnationally developed and are carried out in pilot municipalities. The project tranfers the issue of species protection to municipalities and to gardens.

• A manual in three languages (German/Hungarian/English) is developed by describing the policy for species protection and by providing concrete instructions how to build model habitats in order to protect endangered species in gardens. It guarantees a good transferability of the project outputs onto other regions and the usage of the results.


• In the project-municipalities Pfaffstätten, Tatttendorf and Trumau (Austria) and Gyenesdiás and Zalakaros (Hungary) show-habitats are built which are accessbile for visitors. The show-habitats are designed to allow easy reconstruction in gardens and to provide private persons with know-how so they are able to build model habitats in their gardens and to protect indicator species.


• The propagation of endangered Pannonian plant species which are placed at the disposal of gardeners of the project-area complements all measures taken by the project.


• Living Gardens gives individuals the knowledge to actively contribute to the protection of biodiversity.


• The project puts a spotlight on the protection of endangered species by using a wide variety of communication policies and the involvement of diverse media channels.

Key Information

Summary

The cross-border Neusiedler See – Seewinkel/Fertö HanságNational Park has experienced 25 years of cooperation. A number of projects in the line of science, tourism and education has been successfully realized. Nevertheless, the majority of inhabitants is thinking of a National Park divided by political borders. Establishing the cross-border NatureEducationNetwork will support the idea of one park with no borders and strengthen the acceptance for all project activities. Maintaining and protecting those historically and ecologically important habitats also keeps and protects the valuable living environment for local communities. Project activities and workshops on different levels (for pupils, teachers/adults, residents and strategic partners) will raise awareness and thereby help to protect the unique habitats for the upcoming generations.

The Information Centre in Illmitz serves as the coordinating basis for all educational activities within the network. The newly designed exhibition area and information displayed in three languages simplifies the common use and increases attractiveness to all visitors regardless of their language. In addition to the improved and updated Information Centre, the Csárdakapu Ranger and Education Centre in Balf mainly serves as the joint cross-border base for employees of the Neusiedler See – Seewinkel/Fertö Hanság National Park administration. Furthermore, it is planned to do use the location for cross-border workshops and activities as well. Both administration offices in Austria and Hungary will follow up on the legal framework for long-run joint ranger activities.

The successful implementation of the program sets the cooperation of the administration entities (in Austria and Hungary) on a higher and improved level.

Key Information

Summary

Waste problems appear on both sides of the border and thus in protected natural areas as well.

Aim: pure green thinking, pure green environment – developing the environmental consciousness of the tourists and the inhabitants, for the sake of reducing the waste burden of the cross-border nature park and improving its environmental condition. The efficient, long-term reduction of the waste burden of the protected areas (NATURA 2000) via a wide-range cooperation. As the result of the project the people “produce” less waste (zero waste life-style), they pay attention to the prevention of the waste burdening of natural areas, thus securing the preservation of habitats.  Our “pure greening” activities in the project are:

Broad range cooperation - zero waste nature park working group. There are no borders in the nature – environmental consciousness and waste removal community programs actions in the nature park.  Conscious way of life –perspective shaping, Styrian experience-exchange programs, zero waste events and the elaboration of the e-books thereof. We help the foundation of new greening initiatives in the nature park by learning from Styrian experiences and the wide-range involvement of regional stakeholders.  The practical results of the project will be shared among the animate beings, lifeless natural elements, thepeople: the inhabitants, local regional stakeholders, experts, civilians, enterprises and the tourists coming to the region. The project builds upon a wide-range community cooperation. The experts’ sharing their knowledge helps the local community in the use of long-term sustainable methods.  Innovative elements – active involvement of the youth into the project communication, wide-range vocational partnership, zero waste events – guarantee that the regional inhabitants consider the project as their own and take responsibility and long-time active cooperation for creating and sustaining the “pure green” cross-border nature park.

Key Information

Summary

As in many parts of the world, climate change has accelerated in the Austro-Hungarian border region as a result of human activities as well. The extreme effects of the climate process are abundantly confirmed by data. With conditions changing at such a rapid rate, populations of forest trees are not able to keep up either. According to the downscaled climate models, the rate of temperature rise in the next 50-80 years in the program area will most likely exceed the global average, while precipitation will not increase. This degree of change may jeopardize the sustainment of the stability and biodiversity of the native forest cover in the AT-HU border area. In order to offset the negative effects and to maintain the stability of the forest cover and preserve its biodiversity, protection measures are needed in the border areas. However, harmonised protection measures to preserve native forests have not yet been implemented in the program area. In the present project, based on the Europe-scale forest reproductive material recommendation and transfer system (SusSelect) developed in the SUSTREE project, the partnership will carry out modelling data analysis at regional level for the forests in the project area and develop a bilateral strategy for seed transfer. Based on the bilateral strategy, the movement of reproductive material will be implemented in 6 jointly selected field sites, as a protection measure, using two pre-defined, dominant tree species of the forests of the project area. A joint management plan will be drawn up to monitor the effectiveness of the measures. It is important that the topic processed by the project reaches the general public. Thus, professional actions are completed through the implementation of targeted activities to raise awareness of the ecological diversity and values of forests.

Key Information

Summary

The project partners have achieved effective cooperation in the cross-border management of the protected areas of Lake Fertő region, and ecotourism development in the past decades, but their cooperation in ecological monitoring was limited to individual cases without an institutional background.

Therefore, the overall objective of the project is the coordination of conservation activities (mainly ecological monitoring) on both sides of the border, where a new approach is applied with a uniform methodology and coordinated implementation.

That is why the project partners disclosed their current conservation monitoring programs in the course of project preparation, and then jointly designated target species and habitats that should be explored in the project in a coordinated manner. The thus established common research projects include besides bird monitoring, botanical and faunal studies of other target species and habitats, as well as limnological and hydrobiological research activities of the Lake Fertő and Hanság areas. Furthermore, smaller habitat restoration measures and cross-border development of the birdwatching infrastructure are planned to minimize the disruptive effect of visitors to the breeding grounds.

The aim of the partners is to make the research results available not only to experts but to the general public as well, thus also awareness raising activities are planned (for example, common data collection), which allow the active involvement of the local population. To promote the transfer of best practices organisation of transnational symposia are planned.

Coordinated monitoring programs and habitat restoration projects will serve as a basis for the cross-border management of Natura 2000 areas of the Lake Fertő region, and thus contribute to stabilizing, improving their conservation degree.

Key Information

Summary

The long-term preservation of the ecological network of wetland habitats in the border region and its extremely diverse flora and fauna, which is also regarded as outstanding even at the European level, is possible only with a cross-border approach, based on a common strategy. This is why the overall objective of the project is the coordination of nature conservation measures that preserve the biodiversity of the transboundary habitats and the development of their ecological network. This is made possible by a new approach, which is based on a uniform sampling and evaluation method and is executed in a coordinated manner. The partners have mutually announced their ongoing nature conservation research programs in the project preparation phase, and then jointly named Natura 2000 species, habitats and their threat factors (habitat fragmentation, spread of invasive species, increased social need for water regulation due to increasing flood waters), which are to be researched as part of the project.

In addition, the research results are to be made available to the general public, so environmental and nature awareness raising activities are also being planned (e.g.: school programs, educational film) involving the local population and students. In order to exchange best practices, cross-border workshops and a study tour are to be organised. The coordinated research activities, the prepared action plans, the proposals for the conservation of biodiversity, and the further developed Natura 2000 sustainability plans serve as the basis for the cross-border management of the Natura 2000 wetlands of the border region and enable the connectivity of wetland habitats (hence the acronym of the project: WeCon - wetland connectivity) and contribute to the stabilization of their conservation level.