The Wachau region was inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites as a continuing cultural landscape in 2000. Little is known about the value of World Heritage, in particular the “OUV - outstanding universal value”. A major awareness-raising campaign is intended to change this and specifically address the population. The knowledge and importance of the Wachau Cultural Landscape should be imbued in the population as a way of getting everyone to handle this World Heritage site with greater sensitivity.

The Nature Park owes its great diversity of plants and animals to its mosaic-like cultural landscape and the extensively used meadows. Global changes are forcing many agricultural businesses to specialise or shut up shop. A consequence of this are meadows that are no longer managed and increasingly turning into woodland. To counteract this trend and preserve diversity in the Jauerling-Wachau Nature Park, a nature park brand is under development. This label stands for management compatible with nature and gives the businesses’ products added ecological value.

The Management Plan for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wachau was presented at Göttweig Abbey on 29 March 2017.

The aim of Wachau 2010plus was to further develop the cultural and landscape gem of the Wachau by restaging its cultural and tourism activities in harmony with the people who live and work in the region. Doing so should reveal the special quality of this cultural landscape to visitors.

The goal of the volunteer project is to get young people involved in maintaining and conserving Natura 2000 protected areas in the Wachau UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 2010, volunteers from Austria and around the world have come to the Wachau every summer to conserve valuable areas of dry grassland and orchid meadows.