Local residents’ views on the Wienerwald Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO biosphere reserves (BR) aims to combine conservation and sustainable economic development and to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science. They are places that seek to reconcile conservation of biological and cultural diversity and economic and social development through partnerships between people and nature, they are ideal to test and demonstrate innovative approaches to sustainable development from local to international scales (UNESCO, 2010). Thus, local residents play an important role for the success of the biosphere strategy, particulalry in suburban biosphere reserves such as the Austrian Wienerwald Biosphere Reserve (WWBR). The benefits of and attitudes towards the biosphere by local residents is often unknown. However, area management urgently needs regular information about the attitudes and views of the locals towards their biosphere. The suburban Wienerwald Biosphere Reserve has been established in 2005. After 5 years of its existence, area management needs information about the locals’ view on the WWBR to assess - their attitudes and the acceptance of the BR, - whether they acknowledge the approaches to sustainable development - whether the establishment of the BR has influenced their way of life, the community life quality and their community attachment - the knowledge of local people about the objectives of the BR and the source of their information - whether locals participate in BR activities and how they evaluate these activities - whether there is a gap between the perceptions of BR development by local residents and the management authority Answering these question assist in understanding of the interactions between people, communities and the BR administration within the WWBR region and the success of the BR. It provides reference data for future assessments to identify trends in attitudes and changes in the way of life. This information is needed for the development of future management measures especially for communication management for mitigating conflicts with local people.