First "Green Belt border stone" installed on Austrian-Hungarian border

To make the special nature at the former Iron Curtain visible, the first of a series of Green Belt border stones was erected in Schattendorf. As part of this year's Green Belt Days, Alois Lang from the Austrian League for Natur Conservation and former mayor Johann Lotter unveiled the landmark during a hike along the Green Belt.

Schattendorf in Burgenland is the first municipality in Austria to celebrate the common natural heritage by erecting a boundary marker. For the obelisk, the centuries-old tradition of border stones serves as a model - they mark state borders without representing a barrier for humans and animals.

The landmarks make the Green Belt visible as a cultural space and a special natural refuge and provide information about the development from then to now. In German and in the language of the respective neighbouring country, interested visitors can learn more about the historical background, the common natural heritage in the region, the cross-border nature conservation measures and the European Green Belt.

The Austrian League for Nature Conservation is committed to the protection and preservation of the nature refuges along the Green Belt in many ways. With the border stones, it wants to create local awareness for the more or less untouched nature along the former Iron Curtain. Over the next few years, they are to be "implemented" in as many of the 151 municipalities along the Green Belt as possible.

To preserve the Green Belt in the long term, what is needed above all is awareness and active people on the ground an in the municipalities, the Border Stones are intended to help achieving this.

Contact:

Christine Pühringer, Austrian League for Nature Conservation, 5020 Salzburg
christine.puehringer[at]naturschutzbund.at, www.gruenesband.at