The DaRe to Connect final conference summarized the project results and charted possible ways forward ecological stability of the Euroepan Green Belt. The conference was hold on November 10, 2021, online. It was attended by 65 participants from 10 countries. 

The conference was framed by key message of Brian McSharry from European Environmental Agency: "To achieve the EU and Global targets for protecting and restoring biodiversity, and the health of our planet, we need the combination of green infrastructure and protected areas."

The conference presented regions along the European Green Belt (EGB), which have been identified in the framework of DaRe to Connect as regions, where the ecological connectivity and therefore the functioning of the Green Infrastructure network should be enhanced. These “Areas of Action” (AoA) were elaborated according to different intervention mechanisms and policy instruments (e.g. CAP, biodiversity strategy and restoration goals). 

In order to underpin the need for an integrated management approach for functional connectivity of protected areas along the European Green Belt, practical examples from the pilot regions were presented by regional experts. Apllied remote sensing methods and GIS tools were preseneted too as innovative elements, developed in the course of the project. 

The DaRe to Connect Declaration for the European Green Belt in the Danube Region was signed at the conference by the project partners. They committed to further preserve the European Green Belt as the backbone of Europe´s Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity and requested the governments of the countries along the European Green Belt to include the European Green Belt into their spatial development plans and to create appropriate economic conditions enabling agriculture and forestry to provide ecologically valuable services. They also encouraged the governments of the countries along the European Green Belt to support the nomination of the European Green Belt as UNESCO world natural and cultural heritage.

The conference concluded with recommendations for future steps and activities especially considering the challenges of man-made climate change.