Green Belt Europe - the story of an European challenge During
the "Pan-European Picnic" on 19th August 1989, a crucial hole
was cut into the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Austria. 15
years later, in September 2004, the International Union for
Conservation of Nature IUCN and the German Federal Agency for
Nature Conservation invited people to this historic site for an
international conference in the cross-border Fertö-Hanság/Lake
Neusiedl National Park. Over 70 participants from 17 countries
gathered here. The objective of the conference was to bring the
idea of the "Green Belt Europe" closer to those bordering
countries and to international experts. There were lively
discussions on the future development of the Green Belt, and
what it could achieve in terms of nature conservation and a
sustainable future of Europe. The European Green Belt has
various origins. In the year 2002 BUND (Friends of the Earth
Germany) firstly suggested the creation of a Green Belt all
along the former Iron Curtain. At a celebratio