Like we do every fall - except in 2020/21 -, we have welcomed our new students in September by hosting the annual retreat of the CEU department of Environmental Sciences and Policy!
This year we went to a new place, to the Nationalpark Neusiedler See – Seewinkel.
The park extends over an area of 97 square kilometres of the province of Burgenland and protects parts of the westernmost lake of the Eurasian Steppe and is the first national park in Austria registered in 1994. Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel is not owned by any government but rather by around 1,200 different owners. Most of them are local farmers that receive a yearly compensation for leaving these plots unused. The area of the national park is a meeting point for different plant and animal species. These include alpine, pannonian, asian, mediterranean and northern European species. This results in a mosaic of environments, including wetlands, herding meadows, meadows, sand steppes and salt areas.
As usual, the first day was dedicated to some activities to get to know each other, to do some team building work on environmental issues. The second day we had our guided tour to the National Park.
The retreat was attended by MESP, MESPOM, 1st year PhD students, faculty and staff.
