25th of April we had opportunity to participate in the event “Cycling the Danube. A trip to the natural treasures along the Danube”. As a part of the Danube-wide bicycle expedition, organised by DANUBEparksCONNECTED from April to June 2019, the capitalization cycling trip from Vienna to schlossORTH Nationalpark-Zentrum was organised. Many projects had opportunity to present their goals and achievements.

The trip started in the middle of Vienna, Donauinsel, where all of the participants were welcomed by DI Maria Patek from the Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, Ivan Zavadsky, from ICPDR Executive Secretary, and Andrea Rainer Cerovska, from the National Contact Point Austria. Also there the projects LIFE Sterlet & MEASURES, projects which take care of the conservation of Danube Sturgeons, presented breeding station on the Donauinsel.

We continued downstream. During the next stop we discussed the fish migration issue, we had the presentation from the project, which is dealing with the sediment regime, along the Danube. They showed us possibilities to maintain it. We also heard about the DANUBE FREE SKY initiative, from the Danube Parks Network. Our next stop was the International Park, we had the presentations from the coop MDD, Danube Floodplain and also Amazon of Europe Bike Trail and Transdanube.Pearls. We have discussed river restoration project. We ended up on the project presentation point, where the waterway sector presented their approach to develop a sustainable navigation at the Danube. Also, the cross border project Alpin Carpathian River Corridor which is dealing with the restoration of the rivers, and DTP project Danube STREAM were introduced. During our next stop Danube Parks presented WILDisland initiative. Finally, the cross-border project PlasticFree Danube gave the speech on how to support countries with the problem of the waste of plastic in the Danube.

The event in Vienna was part of the trip of Jovan Erakovic, professional cyclist who is traveling along the Danube. He will cycle 3000 kilometres, visit 10 Danube Countries and 17 Protected Areas and 120 DANUBEPARKS conservation actions. Already 2 weeks of his trip passed by. "The trip is a symbolic value, in modern times green line of Danube was fragmentized, and this trip shows it’s still possible today to go in a kind of continuous experience and to have a trip along the Danube from Germany to the Black Sea" - said Jovan. You can read more about Jovan's trip here.