The Nature Park movement in Austria – from recreational areas to(wards) model regions for sustainable development

In Austria, Nature Parks (NaP) are the oldest large protected areas. The first NaPs were created both as recreational areas for the urban population of Vienna, and to encourage economic growth in rural cultural landscapes. Twenty years after the first characteristic landscapes were designated to protect their uniqueness without preventing their economic development, working groups were established to concentrate on the further development and establishment of NaPs. With the foundation of the Association of Austrian NaPs, an umbrella organization, a common strategy for all Austrian NaPs was developed and implemented. Today, the strategy of NaPs is to simultaneously protect natural and cultural landscapes and to become model regions for sustainable development. This article highlights the development of NaPs in Austria from recreational parks for the urban population to model regions for sustainable development. Foundation of Nature Parks The idea of the establisment of Nature Parks (NaPs) in Austria ran almost parallel to the emergence of the idea in Germany. In 1956, Dr. Alfred Toepfer, chairman of the NaP Association, had proposed a programme of twenty-five NaPs in Germany at the association’s annual meeting (Liesen et al 2008) and in 1959 an Austrian geographer, building on Toepfer’s idea, proposed twelve NaPs in Austria (Strzygowskin 1959). Only a few years later, in 1962, the first NaP was founded leading to a series of nature park foundations until 2012 (see Table 1): In the 1960s, first establishment of NaPs in Lower Austria. In the 1970s, nine NaPs were designated in Lower Austria which were regarded as cultivated nature for recreation purposes (Schweiger 1980). In the 1980s, large areas with distinctive landscapes were designated in Styria. In the 1990s, the first NaP in Upper Austria was founded to maintain the small-scale structure of the area’s particular cultural landscape (Bauernfeind 1996). Two cross-border NaPs were also established with Hungary, in Burgenland. Between 2000 and 2012, 19 NaPs were created, amounting to almost 318 000 ha (Verband der Naturparke Österreichs 2019a), the last one being NaP Attersee-Traunsee; yet the idea for a NaP in this area was already being considered in 1967 (Fossel & Probst 1988). No further NaP has been designated since 2012. Today, NaPs cover almost 6% of the total area of Austria. They differ in size and cover the most diverse cultural landscape types. The smallest NaP is NaP Falkenstein-Schwarzau / Gebirge in Lower Austria, with 17 ha; the largest is NaP Karwendel in Tyrol, with 72 741 ha. The development of the objectives and functions through time For Germany, where the focus from the beginning was on conservation, Weber & Weber (2015) describe five phases in the development of the objectives and functions of NaPs through time. The four phases that can be identified in Austria, where the original purpose was to create recreational areas for the urban population, differ slightly from these. Yet the main long-term aim in both countries is for NaPs to become model regions for sustainable development (Table 2).