The Protected Areas along the Danube are cooperating within the Network DANUBEPARKS already since 2009 to protect the joint natural heritage along Europe’s most international river. Mid of July, the network received positive news: The successful cooperation will continue within the project DANUBEPARKS STEP2.0, funded again by the programme ETC-SEE.
In all Danube countries, there are institutions working to protect the natural heritage of the Danube River. Since several years, DANUBEPARKS – the Danube River Network of Protected Areas – provides the common roof for our joint efforts. The establishment of this network was co-financed by the EU funding programme for European Territorial Cooperation in South-East Europe (ETC-SEE).
Important goals of this cooperation include the optimization of Protected Area management by experience exchange, development of joint conservation concepts, the strengthening of Protected Areas international political voice by Danube-wide strategies and the implementation of demonstrative and innovative pilot projects.
Towards the end of the first successful project, DANUBEPARKS STEP2.0 was submitted as a follow-up project to the fourth call for proposals in the ETC-SEE programme. This week, the approval of the project was confirmed. There are some conditions to fulfill, on which we are currently working. The start of the new projct will be celebrated at a Kick-Off conference in Bavaria, organized by ARGE Donauauwald Neuburg-Ingolstadt. Two years of intensive collaboration for protection and revitalization of the Danube River and its natural treasures are to follow!
Carl Manzano, Director of Donau-Auen National Park, the Lead Partner of the projct, is encouraged by the positive news: “During the first years a lot of good preparation and strategic work was done – along the whole Danube, coordinated strategies for endangered species such as the White-tailed Eagle, but also joint activities in nature tourism do now exist. The approval of the follow-up project is a positive signal and enables the continued cooperation, important for anchoring the achieved results both on site with practical implementation measures as well as on political level.”
The joint strategies will be implemented within concrete transnational measures: A Life+ project application for protection of the White-tailed Eagle, the planning of a DANUBEPARKS visitor centre and two cross-sectorial conferences are foreseen.
The successful Danube-wide Monitoring of indicator species for river dynamics (Little-ringed Plover and Sand Martin) will be continued and underlines DANUBEPARKS‘ importance as experts network: In 2013, the results of this monitoring will be integrated into the Joint Danube Survey of the ICPDR. Also, the existing close cooperation with the EU Danube Region Strategy will be intensified.
The enlargement of the network is another important topic: STEP2.0 does not only signal the second step, but also the extension to twenty partner institutions. The first steps in 2009 were made with 12 Protected Areas; within the new project, already 18 are participating! The new partners come from Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova.
Marta Takac, Director of Public Enterprise Vojvodinasume, one of the new partners and managing the Danube Protected Areas in the Serbian Vojvodina, states: “We started closer cooperation with the DANUBEPARKS Network already during the first project without being a project partner, and participated in several activities. To be a full partner now in the DANUBEPARKS STEP2.0 project and even leading the activities for protection of Black Poplar – a flagship species for natural floodplain forests – is of great importance for us.”
Talks are currently going on with other relevant organizations for closer cooperation to secure the success of DANUBEPARKS as a strong voice for the nature of the Danube River – as cooperation has proven to be the key to reaching our joint goals.