The aim of the project is the development and improvement of methods for the collection, processing and distribution of information on the status of biodiversity in protected areas and of methods for measuring, evaluating and predicting the status and strength of the influence of socio-economic factors on biodiversity.

The planned outcomes of the project are: 1) the organisation of at least 69 cross-border events on specialist topics with a total of 885 participants from the three partner countries of the project (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Poland); 2) the co-design of a cross-border network in which 7 organisations work together; 3) the cross-border development, announcement and implementation of supplementary monitoring procedures for the various categories of large protected areas in the German-Polish border region.

The expected results of the cross-border projects are (after completion of the project): the cross-border cooperation of 7 project partners (universities of the Euroregion Pomerania) and associated partners (protected areas of the Euroregion Pomerania) with 90 participants, within the context of various activities. In addition, the MoPA project should lead to the protected area administrations applying the complementary monitoring methods developed across borders.

The HNEE work package focusses on social science approaches to monitoring in protected areas. It carries out research on selected nature experience offers and underlying relational values and their perception by visitors in large protected areas of the Pomerania Euroregion. These will be compared with the existing strategies of the protected area administrations. The aim is to determine the extent to which visitors perceive and "take away" what the protected area administrations want to convey. In addition, quantitative data on visitor numbers of specific nature experience offers will be included.

Measures

• Development of a set of monitoring procedures for protected areas that take into account experience of nature and relational values
• Development of a new monitoring method on intentions, perceptions and learning effects against the background of representative nature experience offers of the protected areas, supplemented by visitor counts.
• Public relations work, information and awareness raising for the topic
• Creation of a handbook for the practical implementation and utilisation of the results in the protected areas.

Funding information

The project "MoPa - Monitoring for protected areas with a special focus on biodiversity and sustainable development of the areas" (INT0100028) is funded by the   INTERREG VI A programme Mecklenburg-Vorpommern/Brandenburg/Polska in the specific objective P2_2.7 - P2_2.7 "Nature conservation and biodiversity".

Further information can be found on the universities'project page,  the   project page of the Interreg programs authorities   and   the   general project partners project webpage.

Photo: N. Ebert (HNEE)

Photo: N. Ebert (HNEE)

Photo: N. Ebert (HNEE)