Grassroots cooperation brings success to the DANUBEPARKS network
Grassroots cooperation brings success to the DANUBEPARKS network
The first project linking protected areas in the Danube region comes to a close, but the network that provides a joint voice for nature and wildlife carries on.
Out of 800 applications in the first call for projects in the EU Programme for European Territorial Cooperation for South East Europe (ETC-SEE), DANUBEPARKS was one of the 40 projects approved. At the close of this three-year project, which ended in February 2012, it is clear the network’s success will be long-lasting.
The DANUBEPARKS project officially began in 2009 with support from the ETC-SEE programme, but the roots go back even farther. The DANUBEPARKS network is built on a long-term tradition of bilateral cooperation starting in the 1990s. In 2007, eight protected areas signed the Tulcea Declaration stating the clear intention to form a network. It was this natural collaboration, working from the ground up, that made the project possible.
The DANUBEPARKS network has focused on intense communication to increase knowledge and experience exchange within the partnership, developing transnational strategies and implementing pilot projects. Work centred primarily on six areas: river morphology and restoration, habitat networks, conservation of flagship species, monitoring for Natura 2000 sites as well as nature education and tourism.
Georg Frank, Project Manager of DANUBEPARKS, looks back on the close cooperation that made the project possible.
How is the communication between the participating
parks done on a day-to-day basis?
The roots for our transnational network are the
inspiring study visits from the past. Whenever the
experts of the protected areas came together,
it resulted in motivating ideas and visions. In the
framework of the EU-funded projects, the cooperation
has shifted a bit more to the project
managers’ level. But the relevance of personal
contact is still high; technical communication tools
help to arrange all reports and technical questions
effectively, but only the meetings, study visits and
conferences make us share impressions and emotions
and, finally, create a lively network.
What does the future hold for DANUBEPARKS?
If there is the real intent to strengthen the Danube
as an inspiring lifeline – as expressed by the
Danube Strategy, for example – we also need to
strengthen the position of the protected areas:
by the enlargement of existing ones, the establishment
of new reserves and conservation, restoration
and sustainable development of the habitats
in its whole. So this development of the habitat
corridor along the Danube and its tributaries is a
big vision for me.
But for this to occur, politicians and the public must pay more attention to the importance of intact habitats – for the conservation of biodiversity, but also for flood protection, for sustainable regional development and as recreation areas for local people, but also as tourism destinations. To balance the big discrepancies in the region – the needs of the valuable natural assets in the Lower Danube and lower incomes at the same time the economic needs of communities in the Lower Danube – is probably the biggest challenge in the diverse South-East Europe region. Creating income that is based on these existing natural values should be the goal.
What is the most important achievement from the
DANUBEPARKS project?
The most important for me personally is that together
– all partners, all colleagues, all experts – we
had moments to create big visions. We established
a lively and active network, we developed suitable
tools for future conservation like the White-tailed
Eagle Action Plan, we raised awareness for river
dynamics through the Danube-wide monitoring of
flagship species, we continued with the step-bystep
river restoration approach. However I think
we can see these achievements as small steps
to bring our protected areas closer together: in
terms of cooperation between friends and colleagues,
but in particular in terms of the development
of a habitat corridor.
And I have learned that each Danube protected area is valuable in a very specific way. Learning more about the greatest values of areas far away has even raised my appreciation for the specific values that are found in front of my home. Hopefully, this is also realised by politicians, stakeholders and the public and adequate priorities and resources are given to the sustainable development of this region in the future.
Learning to see the big picture. Before the establishment of the DANUBEPARKS network, the challenges facing protected areas gave few opportunities to look beyond national borders, with the result that area managers could rarely get a clear picture of the problems of the Danube as a whole. Bringing the protected areas together allowed area managers to learn about other sites, but also to learn how all of these areas and their common challenges are interrelated. Nowhere is this realisation more visible than in the stunning success with flagship species.
The sturgeon monument built in the Danube Delta and in the Visitor center of the Donau-Auen National Park illustrates the need for Danube-wide conservation of this flagship species.
The White-tailed Eagle is one of the most well-known and impressive birds in the Danube region. Conserving this species assists preservation of many other species because of the complex and wide range of habitats required by the birds. Building on work that had begun much earlier, DANUBEPARKS developed an Action Plan for the White-tailed Eagle, which defines 37 actions in eight areas of intervention. Accompanying the plan is an online database that compiles breeding data from all Danube countries. The plan was presented at the International White-tailed Eagle Conference, held in the Duna-Drava National Park in December 2011. The conference was a milestone of cooperation in the field and highlighted the wide range of DANUBEPARKS activities for conservation of the species.
The DANUBEPARKS network gives protected areas around the basin the opportunity to share experiences in habitat management, conservation of species and monitoring.
Thanks to the work of the DANUBEPARKS network, the species is slowly making a comeback. When the Donau-Auen National Park began 15 years ago, there were no breeding pairs at all. Today the park has at least four breeding pairs, and this success – like the range of the birds – is wide-reaching. “It’s because the bird population in the Middle and Lower Danube has developed so well in Kopački rit and other areas,” says Carl Manzano, Director of the Donau-Auen National Park and spokesperson for DANUBEPARKS. “Our success is due to the success and the good work of others down the Danube.”
The intention of the Action Plan now is to build on this positive trend and to develop the whole Danube as a backbone for the eagle population in the region. The importance of the partnerships between stakeholders in the White-tailed Eagle’s success story underlines the need for transnational cooperation.
A pilot river bank restoration in Slovakia builds on past experience. A DANUBEPARKS’S publication compiles past restoration projects and provides the scientific basis for future actions in river restoration.
Preserving European heritage. An important aspect of the DANUBEPARKS project has been to raise appreciation of the value of these protected areas. “One idea of the project is to create awareness that the natural wealth in these protected areas are a part of European heritage and it’s a great value not just to one country, but to the whole of Europe,” says Manzano.
Environmental education and tourism are an integral part of nature conservation activities and contribute to a broader support of nature protection programmes. The DANUBEPARKS website contains a database of tourism opportunities in the protected areas, and the network published a tourism brochure, ‘Exploring Nature along the Danube River’, which provides information about nature tourism along the Danube for individual travellers as well as for the tourism industry.
DANUBEPARKS developed an Action Plan for the Whitetailed Eagle, one of the project’s flagship species, which defines 37 actions in eight areas of intervention.
The Future of the Network. With the adoption in 2010 of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the DANUBEPARKS project has become a model of the importance of transnational partnerships, and Priority Area 6 specifically mentions DANUBEPARKS as a “flagship project”. However, there is still more work to do. The DANUBEPARKS network has submitted a proposal for a follow up project within the ETC-SEE programme. The main aims of this DANUBEPARKS 2.0 will be to anchor the network more strongly at various levels: internally through capacity-building for project managers, regionally by enlarging the network and externally through a stronger focus on policy work.
At some stage the network will need a stronger institutional grounding. One model to follow may be the Network of Alpine Protected Areas, which is rooted in the Alpine Convention. Following this model, Manzano believes the Danube River Protection Convention might play a larger role in the DANUBEPARKS network in the future.
“We’re very happy with the cooperation with the ICPDR – the ICPDR was a kind of Godfather to the DANUBEPARKS network; it helped us in the beginning and all through the way – and we are proud to be an observer within the ICPDR.”
For more information or to order specific project brochures, visit www.danubeparks.org.
