In April and May, the celebrations for designation of two new Protected Areas in the Slovak Danube Floodplains took place. Both are in Bratislava, protecting sites of community importance, including floodplain forests and species typical for backwaters.
Pecniansky Les is a forest protected area in the heart of Bratislava City, district of Petrzalka, and forms part of the Natura2000 network in Bratislavské luhy (Bratislava Floodplains). It is especially valuable as habitat for beaver, some bat species, and plant communities of backwaters. Also, it plays an important role in the protection of Bratislava drinking water.
The area (295 ha) was protected from February 1st by the Regional Environmental Office, the celebration took place on April 26th with presence of several important stakeholders such as Bratislava City Hall, City District Petrzalka, the Bratislava Drinking Water Company and the Regional Environmental Office. DANUBEPARKS partners present - and contributing to this designation - were BROZ and State Nature Conservany Slovakia.
The newly designated Protected Area Sihot' lies in Bratislava too, forming an island between the main Danube stream and its sidearm Karlovské rameno - this one being the last still free flowing sidearm in the Slovak Danube section. The main aim of the protection of this area (234 ha), which came into force on May 15th, is to conserve the typical floodplain habitats, landscapes, and great variety of species in a densely populated area, and again contributing to the conservation of drinking water resources of the Slovak capital.
The designation was officially celebrated on May 28th, bringing together the public authorities of Bratislava and its districts concerned, the environmental management companies and authorities, and DANUBEPARKS partners both from Slovakia and Austria: BROZ, State Nature Conservancy Slovakia as well as the Donau-Auen National Park in Austria were present.
On this occasion, also the "The Green Twin City Life Line - cross-border conservation concept Austria-Slovakia along the Danube" was presented. The designation of the new protected areas is considered an important step forward in protecting the integrity and coherence of this valuable natural cross-border area along the Danube, faced with many challenges due to its thriving economy and population density due to the two capital cities Bratislava and Vienna being so close.
