On June 5-8, around 40 managers of Transboundary Protected Areas from 10 countries met in Thayatal-Podyjí National Parks (AT-CZ). TransParcNet is organized as a network, within the framework of Europarc. This year’s theme of the meeting was „Bridges over troubled water – Nature protection of river landscapes“. Interesting presentation sessions were focused on experiences in sediment management, improvements in operations of hydropower plants, impacts of climate change, and much more.

At this occasion, Magdalena Wagner (WWF Austria) presented the project coop MDD, which received a lot of interest from the Protected Area managers. Furthermore, within a workshop session, some of the topics were discussed in more depths.

Hosts also organized a truly transboundary excursion: walking through, partly core zones of the Austrian National Park Thayatal, crossing the river by rubber boats, and continuing the walk through the Czech National Park Podyjí. The 10 km walk gave a great insight into very diverse habitats, not to mention a great opportunity for informal experience exchange as well.

In conclusion, the exchange was very inspiring, bringing additional ideas for the Transboundary Action Plan and follow-up project concepts, on which the coop MDD partnership will work in the upcoming months.