On 18th and 19th October, 2017 LENA Project was presented during the 6th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR).  The forum took place in Budapest and was jointly organized by Hungary – holding the current Presidency of the EUSDR, the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Programme. It assembled policymakers and civil society representatives from the region to share ideas, exchange knowledge and lay out the plans for the future.

The forum’s chair Jean-Pierre Halkin, Head of the Unit for transnational cooperation and enlargement at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (EC), noted that the success of the EUSDR will be measured by the progress towards biodiversity preservation, especially sturgeons conservation. WWF representatives reported that this is a big step towards positioning nature protection higher on the strategic agenda of the EUSDR. 

An important part of the forum was the session when all 5 projects falling in the “Biodiversity and Landscape” topic were invited to present their work, stakeholders, partners and progress up to date. The session aimed to create synergy between the projects, increase their effectiveness and extend the scope of their results.  This process, led by Georg Frank, manager of DANUBEparksCONNECTED project, is also known as capitalization, was a pivot point for the event. 

LENA project was presented by WWF Bulgaria. Some of the key topics with other projects are:

• Both LENA and the EcoKarst project will be identifying and developing pro-biodiversity businesses. In addition the EcoKarst project intends to promote the sustainable use of the Karst ecosystem services. .
• Under the coop MDD project a transboundary management programme for the 5-country UNESCO Biosphere reserve will be elaborated. Protected areas’ management is also an important topic in LENA. Another common point between the two projects might be future collaboration between LENA-trained Danube tourist guides and coop MDD’s River schools.
• LENA and DANUBEparksCONNECTED projects found their intersection point in the development of green infrastructure in protected areas. It was exciting to realize there is an opportunity to organize a joint final awareness raising event. In addition, cycling along the dyke is part of the activities of DANUBEparksCONNECTED and could be related to the promotion activities of the LENA’s e-mobility network and final partners’ meeting.