The Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland National Park Region hosted the EUROPARC’s 2016 TransParcNet meeting, held from 7-9 June 2016 in the National Park Visitor Centre in Bad Schandau, Germany. This year’s TransParcNet meeting explored best practices and challenges in visitor management in European transboundary conservation areas. The programme also combined the field trips to the Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland consisting of two national parks and two Landscape Protected Areas in Czech Republic and Germany. This transboundary conservation area is famous for its sandstone rocks, the largest of its kind in Europe. Introduction to this highly visited transboundary regions was provided by Handrij Härtel from the Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Jürgen Phoenix from the Saxon Switzerland National Park.

The TransParcNet is a network of 23 European protected areas forming 10 Transboundary Parks certified under the EUROPARC's ‘Transboundary Parks – Following Nature’s design’ programme. Annual meetings enable sharing of experiences between peers and building of good relationships. Apart from gathering the EUROPARC’s transboundary network, the 2016 meeting was also attended by representatives of Irish national parks, Irish Tourist Board, IUCN WCPA’s Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group, the University of Vienna, and transboundary expert from Peru, among others.

Maja Vasilijević, Co-Chair of the WCPA’s Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group, presented the Specialist Group’s activities and plans, including the outline of the 2015 Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Transboundary Conservation: a systematic and integrated approach, as potentially useful resource for transboundary staff in European protected areas. The discussion following the presentation called for strengthening of cooperation between EUROPARC and the WCPA’s Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group, as both networks hold vast experience and knowledge sharing of which would generate mutual benefits.

More information is available here. To see a PowerPoint presentation by Maja Vasilijević, please go here.