At the beginning of July 2017 the DANUBEPARKS Network of Protected Areas came together in Kopacki rit (Croatia) to celebrate its 10th anniversary and also to work actively together at the Kick Off of the 1st Danube Volunteers Day.

Ten years ago, in 2007, protected area managers from eight Danube countries met in Tulcea, the capital of the Danube Delta. The fruitful meeting concluded with the “Declaration of Tulcea” calling for the establishment of a Danube River Network of Protected Areas. Today, DANUBEPARKS is an established association with 16 partners from 9 Danube countries implementing its third big transnational INTERREG project.

The celebration has been accompanied by a Workshop programme for the project partners.
The presentations are available for download here:

Presentation Dry Habitat Corridor - Kerstin Huber, PSU Schaller
Presentation 1st Danube Volunteers Day, Stephanie Blutaumüller, Donau-Auen National Park
Presentation Corridor Land - Forest, Bojan Tubic, Vojvodinasume
Presentation DANUBE FREE SKY, Remo Probst, Birdlife Austria
Presentation Steering Commitee Meeting, Georg Frank, Donau-Auen National Park

After working together strategically we finally started to work together in the field. Raising the awareness for the importance of our natural treasures, learning about valuable dry habitats, and sharing the feeling that each single hand creates an added value and that each single person can contribute significantly to preserve natural habitats - are the aims of the 1st Danube Volunteers Day.

At the 10 years anniversary festival in Kopacki rit (Croatia), the DANUBEPARKS team worked actively to promote local and origin fruit trees as important habitat structures in semi-dry grasslands. This fruit tree alley of a length of 6 km does not only enrich the local habitats, soon, it also should spend shade for the local community when going along and visiting this site for recreation.

The 1st Danube Volunteers Day will be organised between 24th August and 21st October. 14 events in nearly all Danube countries will take place to manage and to restore valuable dry habitats. The more people will join, the more hectares of dry meadows, Heisslands, block fields and habitats for rare characteristic species can be preserved! We will keep you updated about the results and effects of our joint work! Follow us on Facebook

More detailed information will follow in our next Newsletter. You can subscribe here on the bottom of the page.

After our Volunteers work all Protected Areas had the chance to present themselves at the local Danube Art Festival. Culinary specialities from 9 Danube countries have been prepared by the DANUBEPARKS team. Every Protected Area has its own special recipe for the traditioal fish soup. Together we present the cultural diversity of the Danube region through the protection of the natural heritage.