Land & Raum 2 2015 "Networks in the Danube Region"

Here you will find relevant excerpts from the current edition of Land & Raum 2 2015 "Networks in the Danube Region".
 

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Download article Szlezak

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The editorial written by Arthur Spielger:

The Danube area. It is the area where the most significant events in Austrian history took place. And today it is one of the major European regions, such as the Alpine region or the Baltic region - and it stands for what we are or were used to call "Central Europe." The Danube Region fulfills a geographical, social, economic and political bridging function. This function, especially economically, is achieved through the connection through the Rhine-Main Danube Canal, which connects these two identity-creating, but also somewhat competing river landscapes and cultural areas, see issue 3/2011 of Land & Raum entitled "The Danube - Space - Function - Strategy".
In order for the new European Greater Region to "work", that is, to be economically, socially and politically successful, the understanding of the population and its participation in the manifold tasks is an indispensable prerequisite. Therefore, networks of learning and practice have proved themselves. These are exactly what this issue is all about.
Only a few of the many hundreds in and between the 18 countries and the many small regions of the Danube region can be presented by way of example here, of course especially those with a strong relationship to Austria. Networks are understood here as voluntary (non-prescribed) forms of cooperation for the transfer of knowledge and the exchange of knowledge as well as for the implementation of experience in "coexistence" at all administrative levels, from government agencies to associations (NGOs) to the municipalities. If this succeeds, the term "Good Governance" applies internationally, as reported in issue 4/2007 of Land & Space.
Ursula Bittner: An Austrian initiative to promote soybean cultivation has now developed successfully across the entire Danube region and beyond. This led to the founding of the association "Danube Soya" in 2012 and is now "the most important European initiative in the agricultural sector".
Georg Frank describes the network "Danube Parks", protected areas along the Danube and its tasks First initiatives in 2007, foundation of the association in 2014 in the Donauauen National Park. The management of protected areas is also a good example of how protecting and benefiting work together.

Simon Ortner: Networks are there to create and use synergies. Many are already embedded in existing cooperation platforms (for example the Council of the Danube Cities and Regions) of the "ARGE Donauländer", which has existed since 1990, with its General Secretariat in the Lower Austrian Provincial Government.
Christian Steiner warns that the soil is worth protecting, one of our most precious goods. To accomplish this urgent task there is even a worldwide network and a "European soil alliance".
Franz Rybacek uses "socio-ecological production" to show how much better in many ways it is "togetherness" instead of competition. This is demonstrated by about 150 good practice examples of "social enterprises." These very small forms of cooperation are "close to the people" and therefore so effective!
How the results of a multi-region and naturally cross-border network can be implemented, describes a whole team of authors from these regions from Lower Austria and Slovakia.
Erwin Szlezak once again uses the example of the soil of the Danube region to show how strategies of "protecting" and "benefiting" can work together in a positive way, whereby the municipalities play a "key role".
Harald Kutzenberger and Teodora Trichkova, using the example of the Austro-Romanian cooperation, point out that there are not only positives, but also dangers from the development history of the Danube region and its constant change. This is explained by the so-called "invasive species", plants and animals that spread in a non-native area and displace native species.
Conclusion: Controlling the development of such a large space, in itself in all respects different (languages, cultures, social circumstances, ethnic groups, climate, geology, soils, relief forms etc.) and yet connected by the "cultural axis of the Danube", cannot happen overnight.
Such great successes in many areas already exist, however, as much as the project is supported by the European Commission, one of the most important concerns is still a mystery: To make sure that the well-being and wellbeing of the rural population are becoming ever more sustainable, the greatest efforts must be made, so that the gap between "poor" and "rich" does not open faster and faster!
Your Arthur Spiegler

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The Macro-Regional EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)
Roland Arbter

The working group of the Danube countries
Simon Ortner

Year of the Soil 2015 - activities at different levels
Christian Steiner

Our soil in the Danube region - make good use and protect carefully
Erwin Szlezak

Ground Ambassadors and Flying Ground Classrooms
Eva Erhart, Bernhard Kuderer, Květuše Hejátková, Milan Hluchý, Elisabeth Neuner, Katharina Watzka, Wilfried Hartl

goodworks - socio-ecologically produced in the Danube region
Bernhard Kuderer, Szabolcs Hollosi, Franz Rybaczek

Project BeFoRe - Sustainable Development
Richard Weber, Martin Weber, Ingrid Schwarz, Andrea Cheppisak, Therese Stickler and Isabella Sattler

DANUBEPARKS - network of Danube conservation areas
Georg Frank

DIAS - A scientific network for dealing with invasive species in the Danube region
Harald Kutzenberger and Teodora Trichkova

Danube Soya - Austrian initiative connects the Danube region
Ursula Bittner

The protection of wild sturgeons in the Danube
Christina Sandu and Harald Kutzenberger