From the History of a Paradigmatic Dispute Over the Future of Nature and Landscape of Podunajsko (the Danube Region)

Efforts to protect nature and the landscape over a large area have recently intensified - also on the Slovak side of the Danube River. The more than thirty-year-old idea of a national park in this region, which we could give the working name "The Slovak Danube Region", has come back to life. On the Austrian side, very close to Bratislava, such a national park was established more than 20 years ago, and the Hungarians also created a national park close to border with Slovakia. After several years of indifference, regional as well as communal politicians, media, experts and the lay public started to become more interested in this precious territory that partially lies within the Bratislava cadastre, the capital of Slovakia. This is also the main reason for this article, in which we focus on a brief mapping of the history of protection efforts in the Danube region, emphasising the second half of the 20th century. We also understand these activities as a kind of an anti-thesis opposing a strictly technocratic approach towards using the Danube and its surrounding nature and landscape. In the light of the confrontation of these values, opinions and attitude, we could call it a "paradigmatic dispute". As the author of the article was also involved in the dispute, it is an opportunity for him to look back at this matter over a distance of several years.