Biosphere Park Grosses Walsertal

Best Practice

Topics

• Regional value added
• Protected areas, New forms of decision-making, Policies and instruments

Short description

* Project updated on 2 May 2007 according to information from the project contact persons * The Grosses Walsertal Biosphere Reserve, situated in the Western part of Austria and formed by six villages within a single alpine valley was designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in November 2000. Already two years before the designation as a biosphere reserve the preparations started – a Charter which set out a common future vision for the next years was elaborated by the local population, the first projects started. Also after the inauguration the region has always tried to make the biosphere concept visible for everyone by realizing “visible” projects, by establishing a professional regional management as a focus point and by constantly informing the local people about the backgrounds of a biosphere reserve. The intention is not just being proud on the UNESCO –Label “biosphere reserve” but to do something for the peoples’ future and to make the biosphere reserve visible in the everyday life of everybody. (Sustainability report 2004, REGIO, 2004) The projects involve all relevant aspects of the region and try to implement an integrated model of sustainability: cooperation of tourism and agriculture, production and processing a regional resources, renewable energy, increasing the population’s quality of life, timber construction, etc.

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Project executive

Main responsibilities of REGIO (members are the 6 Walsertal municipalities) are the guidance and the “formation” of the future development of the region in ecological, economic, cultural and social aspects. The association is the legal representative of the Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal.

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Participants

Participants: - REGIO ( members are the 6 municipalties Thüringerberg, St. Gerold, Blons, Sonntag, Fontanella, Raggal), its tasks are performed by the steering committee and the thematic committee (organised in workshops on different topics). - Working groups for individual projects. - Biosphere Reserve Management: It was founded in 2000 for the realisation on the level of operation. Its responsibilities involve the implementation of the Biosphere Reserve tasks according to the Sevilla Strategy, the strategic planning and the cooperation with partners, the committee and the implementation of projects for sustainable development, supervising the sustainability management system, research and international networking, environmental protection, ambiental education, public relations and administrative tasks. Partners who support the Biosphere Reserve (advisory function and thematic consultancy): - Office for Future Affairs and department for nature and environmental protection at the State of Vorarlberg - Administration, region Grosses Walsertal (Bezirkshauptmannschaft) - Energy Institute Vorarlberg External cooperations (loose networks for the exchange of information and experiences): - other Biosphere Reserves, e.g. BR Entlebuch, BR Wienerwald - Alliance of Alpine Municipalities - Network of Alpine Protected Areas Furthermore, there exist irregular and informal contact to different departments of the state of Vorarlberg, the Economic Chamber of Vorarlberg and other institutions. The Biosphere Reserve cooperates too with the regional tourism offices in the course of tourism projects and the development of future initiatives and strategies. The cooperations in the different subprojects consist of varying partners according to the prerequisites of the project.

Objectives

The overriding objective of the project is to achieve the certification as a model region for integrated environment management for the whole valley. Therefore, the region has set itself the following targets:  Evaluation and implementation of a Sustainable Management System and core indicators for sustainability and quality.  Increase the population’s identification with its region and involving them in all projects.  Safeguarding and generating economic value added  Development of soft-tourism offers  Safeguarding and creating working places  Preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the region  Raising awareness within the region  Fostering suitable, sustainable and eco-friendly land use (agriculture, industry and tourism)  Prevent migration and increase the quality of living  Using renewable regional resources

Activities

Projects on renewable energy aiming at achieving e5 status for the region: Biomass heating plants, e.g. in Faschina (heats 20 tourism companies within the region); Energy information center; Excursions explaining to visitors the projects on renewable energy. Projects for the development of soft-tourism (better courses for commuters and students within the public transport system; Project “Alp- and hiking busses” in order to reduce the individual transport, to guide visitors and to protect the environment); Austrian Ecolabel for regional tourism companies, using and processing regional products in the tourism Ecological agriculture and environmental protectionsector) (community of Alpine Dairies Grosses Walsertal – production of cheese from “silo free” milk, conservation of the traditional form of cultivation) Campaigns which raise awareness within the region Developing a mission statement for the Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal Trainings on Implementation of a Sustainable Quality Management  environmental themes for different target groups within the region (school kids, teenagers, etc.) Offering adventure camps and days with professional tutors Feasibility study on biodiesel and biogas Development of a regional public transport system (to reduce the environmental pollution and noise exposure) Project “Bergholz“ (network of companies producing and processing wood, generating regional value added) Cooperation of agriculture and tourism (“Walserstolz” cheese, “Genussspechte“ – regional products in the gastronomy, „Die Köstliche Kiste”, 38 touristic partner companies , of the Biosphere Reserve (complying with 13 criterions focusing the objectives of the Biosphere Reserves, Certifcation of 4 schools and 4 hotels with thePark’s philosophy) Project “Lebenswert leben“ (Quality of life living)Austrian Ecolabel – maintaining local supply in rural areas in order to increase the Sustainability reports (2003, 2004)population’s quality of life. Further projects: summer programme, cookery book with recipes made of regional products, Alchemilla project, project for visits on the farms. See documents below and projects Open door farms http://www.cipra.org/alpknowhow/bestpractice/Open%20door, EMAS certification http://www.cipra.org/alpknowhow/bestpractice/EMAS%20Grosses%20Walsertal/ and Mountain wood (Bergholz) http://www.cipra.org/alpknowhow/bestpractice/Bergholz%20-%20Mountain%20wood.

Process

1. Phase (1999 – 2000 UNESCO designation) - idea generation and preparatory work: excursion of regional representatives and representatives of the State of Vorarlberg in the Biosphere Reserve Rhön. This excursion supported the region to aim for the designation of the region Grosses Walsertal as Biosphere Reserve. 2. Phase (2000 – 2003) – creating organisational structures: this project phase aim at making the BR designation visible and noticeable. A mission statement was developed in cooperation with the regional population (about 70 inhabitants participated): workshops (moderated by 2 external and independent experts). 3. Phase (since 2003) – consolidation phase: sustainable implementation and extension of the existing projects. Activities in this phase involve excursions to other BR (best practice analysis), regular regional meetings (information, discussion), annual conclave (planning of and decision on the annual programme and budget), events (review on success, preview and information about current developments and projects), information of the regional population (newspaper “Blickwinkel”) and organising festivities (to reward the success).

Results

Designation as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; Preservation of natural and cultural regional values; Generation of regional value added (tourism and agriculture and timber construction) and rising the quality of life for the population (“Lebenswert Leben”, “Genussspechte”, “Bergholz”, “Walserstolz”, etc.); Preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the region; Discussion of environmental issues and setting initiatives for renewable energy; Increased number of excursions; The municipalities developed a willingness for cooperation showing the increased solidarity within the region. The Biosphere park won during the last years several national and international awards regarding the topics sustainability, energy, environment and tourism: for example: European Renewal Village Award 2002, Environment and Solar Award of Vorarlberg 2002, Ford-Environment Award 2003, Network of alpine communities Award 2003, European Energy Award (silver) 2004, European Sustainability Reporting Award 2004, International Environment Award of the German travel agency association 2005, Michel Batisse Award 2006 of the UNESCO for Birgit Reutz-Hornsteiner for the Biosphere Park management. Development of a sustainability programme and tools for the evaluation (“Unternehmen V”); Regular evaluation; Rising publicity. Success factors: Participation of citizens right from the beginning (development of the mission statement, logo), integration of all social stratums and age classes, establishing a network between the leading projects (raising awareness, creating identification and ensuring the population’s cooperation), evaluation system (Sustainability Quality Management System) to react in time on undesirable developments and to make prosperities visible.

Evaluation

The evaluation takes place on 3 levels: - The mission statement was evaluated in 2004: which goals were achieved?, which goals have to be strengthened? New objectives? Etc. - Project evaluation (tool “Unternehmen V”): “Unternehmen V” is an evaluation workshop for all projects. The results are shown in a sustainability profile for the region. - EU project EcoMonte: regular external evaluation. Additionally, the REGIO holds an annual conclave: internal evaluation of organisational structures and contents.

Difficulties

 Financing of the basic organisational structure: it is very difficult to obtain promotions for the development in structures in Austria and, moreover, there is always some cost sharing. The State of Vorarlberg agreed on ensuring a basic amount of funds after numerous negotiations. In addition, the 6 municipalities contribute to the financing of the project.  Preserving the population’s and municipalities’ commitment, motivation and interest in order to safeguard the cooperations and avoid selfish activities. The BR management has to work permanently to overcome this difficulty: motivation, making prosperities visible (awards, parties, etc.), information and discussion. It has to demonstrate that all companies of the regional value chain benefit from the project (additional income, increasing the number of working places, etc.). Therefore, a Sustainability Quality Management System was implemented for the region.  Dependence on honorary commitment: this leads to lags and slows projects down. The management has to support these project intensively to ensure their success. A strategy to encourage the population’s honorary commitment is to make the prosperities visible and to thank the participants (e.g. organising a party or in the frame of different events) and to consider these lags in the project planning.

Budget

190.000 (Euro)

Financial backer

Annual budget accounts for 190.000 € and is composed of national funds (funding basis by the Vorarlberg region), funds of the municipalities and funds of sponsors. (The project EcoMonte (duration: 3 years) was promoted from the EU and, therefore, had a bigger budget.) Project “Bergholz“: A limited company was founded for this project. Each shareholder pays a fixed annual fee (the Marketing Ltd. Addresses customers and lands orders which are allocated among its members). The different projects receive promotions of different financial backers and institutions.

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

Homepage: http://www.grosseswalsertal.at Information on Austrian Biosphere Reserves: www.biosphaerenparks.at

Publication

„Leben in Vielfalt“ (Verlag: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

- The regional population’s awareness for environmental issues has been raised by the Biosphere Park and its activities. - Preservation of Protected Areas - Developing a positive image for the Biosphere Reserve’s core zone - Initiatives on renewable energy, e.g. biomass heating plants, etc. - Ecolabel for schools and tourism companies - Sustainability Quality Management System for the region (producing a sustainability report)

Economic value added

Economic value added is generated by the increasing number of excursions (quadruplicated), i.e. the tourism sector benefits in large part. The number of weekly events for schools has risen from 7 to 14 (2001 – 2006). Projects such as “Genussspechte”, “Walserstolz” or “Bergholz” increase the sale of local products and, therefore, create additional income for the producers. Implementation of renewable energy (construction of heating plants, initiatives on energy, research etc.) and processing of regional resources. The regional value added generated by the label “Biosphere Reserve” was evaluated in 2005 (Iinquiries of companies, citizens and guests. Some results of this study: Experts consider the biosphere park as a model project. Almost ¾ of the population think that the biosphere park makes very much sense or makes sense. Projects such as Walserstolz or Bergholz are known by a big majority. The brand „biosphere park“ is a unique selling point for tourism and high quality offers and regional products provide good chances for the development of tourism. Companies also profit of the better image of the region caused by the biosphere park. The exchange of information and sensibilisation for quality need to be further supported.) Existing working places were safeguarded and additional jobs in various areas emerged. The number of apprenticeship training positions (timber construction, wood processing) increased by 10%. The demand for this kind of education has risen too among young people, i.e. the trend of migration and brain drain may be reduced in future. Cooperations within the tourism and business sectors also have developed: in 2005 one single tourism organisation for the whole valley has been created and in 2006 the business association “Verein Wirtschaft Großes Walsertal”

Socio-cultural value added

- regional cooperations between different municipalities have developed - common presentation under the logo Biosphere Reserve - active participation of citizens in the future development of the region - involving young people into project (e.g. design of the Biosphere Reserve was performed by a competition of school kids) - the region’s self-confidence has risen (there was no special core competency within the scope of tourism or other sectors previous to the development of the Biosphere Reserve, now it has a leading role as a model region for sustainability). - Raising young people’s interest in handicraft and tradition as well as environmental issues. - The designation as Biosphere Park encourages discussion within the region.

Innovative content

 Cooperation of different municipalities in the achieving of an overriding objective (Biosphere Reserve, model region for sustainability).  The mission statement and the logo were developed together with the whole region (future conferences, active cooperation of citiziens).  The regional citiziens are involved actively in projects.  New forms of decision-making: the steering committee is supported in its decisions by a thematic committee which has workshops on different topics. This allows for the integration of experts and project groups in decisions.  Region for regional pilot projects (e.g. Implementation of EMAS for a community (energy audit), energy certification for a region, Sustainability Quality Management).  The annual conclave (decision on number of employees, budget and annual programme, etc.) strengthens and safeguards the organisational structures of the region.

Good governance

Members of REGIO are the 6 Walsertal municipalities Thüringerberg, St. Gerold, Blons, Sonntag, Fontanella, Raggal. Its various tasks are performed by different committees: - The steering committee of REGIO comprises the 6 mayors, the chairman and his representative. The Biosphere Reserve manager is involved in an advisory function. The steering committee decides on the strategic development of the Biosphere Reserve and is responsible for the Sustainability Management System (evaluation, implementation of activities, environmental policy). - The steering committee is supported by the thematic committee of REGIO which is organised in thematic workshops (Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Energy, Tourism, Business, Youth, Social Aspects, School, Education and Culture): advisory function, participation in decisions, recommendations for projects, etc. Biosphere Reserve Management is responsible for the implementation of the mission statement and the coordination of all participants and activities. It does not directly participate in decisions of the steering committee but has an advisory function. Some decisions were taken collectively with all citizens, e.g. decision on the logo. The other democracy of all other decision is guaranteed by involving the regional political representatives and the communication and information of decisions.

PR impact

 The information paper “Blickwinkel“ releases information on projects, success (e.g. awards) and other developments.  Awards and other achievements (e.g. milestones) are celebrated with the whole region (the Biosphere Reserve organises a party to thank all participants and stakeholders in a visible way).  Regular press coverage.  Annual general meeting: presentation of projects and prosperities.  Communicating prosperities (awards, projects, etc.) to external visitors and in networks  Special exhibition in the regional museum of local history.

Multiplier effect / networking

The Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal participates in different networks (e.g. Alliance of Alpine Municipalities) and meetings for the exchange of know how (with other Biosphere Reserves, Network of Alpine Protected Areas, Nature Park Conferences, etc.). It passes impulses on excursion groups in other to support them in adapting the experiences and know how to their requisitions (e.g. support in the development of other Biosphere Reserves, e.g. intensive cooperation with the BR Wienerwald).

Transferability

The project’s principles of involving its citizens actively in the future development of the region and the regional cooperation according to the slogan „Man, Natur, Environment and Economy in harmony“ are transferable in any case. Furthermore, the most project ideas (regional public transport system, development of soft-tourism offers and projects on renewable energy, the enhancement of regional value added using regional products and product chains, awareness raising for the nature protection services of agriculture etc. may be easily transferable too. The regional Sustainability Quality Management is applicable in other regions, if they are not too small because of the large bureaucratic effort involved. Further prerequisites: - small regions in order to ensure that all have the same interests and objectives - a regional leader acting as driving force for the project and being able to encourage all stakeholders. This safeguards the project’s authenticity too.

Further information