The project is a partnership project of the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union. Two Swiss partners are involved: the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch as well as the Institute for Landscape and Open Space of the Technical University in Rapperswil.

The goal of the project is to define and adopt a new management model for the biosphere reserve. The model shall illustrate the interdependence of nature and people living in the region. The cultural, economic and natural heritage of the region shall be respected and preserved for future generations.

An important aspect of the project is its participative approach. The project aims to advance regional development with the involvement of the region's population, by making the population aware of its cultural and natural heritage. With that, natural protection shall not be perceived as a restriction but as an opportunity for the local population.

The project has also the ambition that its results can be adopted in other regions of Slovakia. Know-how from the Swiss partners will be transferred on a consultative basis and through joint activities.

An article about the project in Slovak is available at: http://zvolen.sme.sk/c/7088820/prideme-o-biosfericke-rezervacie.html.

More details about the project as well as about other NGO- and partnership-projects are available at http://www.bgsfm.sk/.