Summary

The project aimed to raise awareness about the extraordinary fauna and flora of the region and disseminate information to the region in Lower Austria, Vienna and the Czech Republic. As a first step, educational activities targeted the local population of Schmidatal and Retzerland. The second main step of the project was to develop a touristic offer based on the natural resources of the area with the contribution of the local communities.

The community of Sitzendorf developed a competence centre for natural resources and biodiversity and through the marketing of tourism, nature lovers from Austria as and the Czech Republic were made aware of the attractions of the region.

Results

The project led to the establishment of the association Naturforum western Weinviertel.

Networking brought together all key players in the region.

A number of cooperation partners were identified to support this initiative.

The support and commitment of targeted communities and partners was engaged.

A concept was developed for a series of educational activities to be supported including the creation of a thematic trail, the organisation of educational events and the carrying out of learning case studies.