Analysis of attitudes of local communities towards the creation of protected areas on the example of national parks in Austria and Germany
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Date
2023
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach
Abstract
Description
The aim of this study was to present the attitudes of lo-
cal communities in the process of creating a national park – a pre-
cious natural area with a high protection regime. The study takes
into account the actions of the authorities and legal regulations
concerning, among other things, the possibility of agricultural
and economic activities in the park.
The considerations were based on the presentation of the
cases of the establishment of the Nationalpark Donau-Auen in
Austria and the Nationalpark Schwarzwald in Germany. Among
others, official documents, publications, reports, studies, online
information (e.g. on websites) and legal acts concerning nature
conservation and national parks were analysed.
The factor that mobilised communities in the process of es-
tablishing the two national parks was the decisions of the public
authorities. The Donau-Auen Nationalpark is an example of ef-
fective community action in defence of nature. Its creation was
preceded, among other things, by the ‘Hainburg Aubsetz’ cam-
paign, a community initiative demonstrating the importance of
nature conservation in Austria. The creation of the Schwarzwald
Nationalpark, on the other hand, is an example of the NIMBY
(not in my back yard) phenomenon, where the local community
accepts nature conservation but opposes it when its rights are cur-
tailed. The dialogue between the authorities and the public has
shown in both cases that awareness-raising activities on decisions
related to the creation of a protected area are necessary. The ap-
proval of local communities in the creation of protected areas is
linked to the expectation that these areas will provide social and
economic benefits. The creation of a protected area can mean
profits for businesses in the area or a worsening of the living situ-
ation of landowners excluded from production, indicating a link
between nature conservation and living standards and poverty. In
the cases discussed, there is no data on the level of poverty and
its impact on the attitudes of local communities towards protected
areas. It seems important to carry out relevant research in this
regard in the future.
Keywords
precious natural areas, national park, conflicts in precious natural areas
Citation
Polish Journal of Agronomy
2023, 52, 22–30