Project content

The project partners have achieved effective cooperation in the cross-border management of the protected areas of Lake Fertő region, and ecotourism development in the past decades, but their cooperation in ecological monitoring was limited to individual cases without an institutional background.
Therefore, the overall objective of the project is the coordination of conservation activities (mainly ecological monitoring) on both sides of the border, where a new approach is applied with a uniform methodology and coordinated implementation.
That is why the project partners disclosed their current conservation monitoring programs in the course of project preparation, and then jointly designated target species and habitats that should be explored in the project in a coordinated manner. The thus established common research projects include besides bird monitoring, botanical and faunal studies of other target species and habitats, as well as limnological and hydrobiological research activities of the Lake Fertő and Hanság areas. Furthermore, smaller habitat restoration measures and cross-border development of the birdwatching infrastructure are planned to minimize the disruptive effect of visitors to the breeding grounds.
The aim of the partners is to make the research results available not only to experts but to the general public as well, thus also awareness raising activities are planned (for example, common data collection), which allow the active involvement of the local population. To promote the transfer of best practices organisation of transnational symposia are planned.
Coordinated monitoring programs and habitat restoration projects will serve as a basis for the cross-border management of Natura 2000 areas of the Lake Fertő region, and thus contribute to stabilizing their conservation degree.