GREENNET - Promoting the ecological network in the European Green Belt

The GREENNET concept is mainly based on results and outputs are emanating from the closed INTERREG III B CADSES Project GreenBelt. Within this project it was possible to already identify those areas within the Central European Green Belt which are of outmost ecological importance. However, more than 50% of areas examined in the European Green Belt were indicated as “gaps”, understood as areas without a remarkable status of legal protection but with a significant importance for the network itself. Without further specification Green Belt did call for new and innovative approaches in the fields of nature protection, rural development and land management in order to include those areas into the Green Belt and to secure them as stepping stones for species in the ecological network. GREENNET will incorporate and further develop these approaches, but will add a new and special focus on formal and informal planning and management instruments as well as on voluntary-participative approaches in the field of nature protection and rural development in non- or low protected areas in the Green Belt. Following the specific approach of the GREENNET project by targeting those characteristic areas it will be of outmost importance to apply especially those informal and voluntary-participative approaches and instruments of land and conflict management which are suitable for the creation of a ecological network. Because of a low chance for the establishment of new legally protected especially in the western part of the European Green Belt, GREENNET will apply protection and management strategies and instruments such as Ecopools, area pools, land management strategies, round tables and regional development workshops etc. Considering the character of areas targeted there is a certain need for informal as well as voluntary and participative strategies and instruments, as legal instruments will mainly not be applicable due to the non- or low protected status. The main and overarching objective of the project is to support and strengthen policies, strategies and approaches to safeguard an interlinked ecological network with a special focus on legally non- or low protected ecologically valuable areas in the Central European Green Belt. Furthermore the project seeks the following sub-objectives: • Promoting new ways of safeguarding the Central European Green Belt as interlinked ecological network. • Development and implementation of a joint transnational strategy for management and securing non- or low protected areas in the Central European Green Belt. • Implementation of local and regional approaches to support concrete contributions to safeguard the ecological situation in the regions concerned. • Transfer of the project results to other Green Belt, to other Central European Initiatives in the field of transnational nature conservation and ecological networking • Implementation of new and innovative instruments and land management tools as well as of voluntary and participative management strategies in legally non-protected areas • Lobbying • Development of recommendations and tools for the implementation of future funding instruments especially in the coming structural funds period 2014-2020