Due to continuous debate, a significant paradigm shift in protected areas research and implementation can be observed, being characterized by a shift from the dominance of protection to an integration of protection and development. As a result, the idea of area protection has been extended to the idea of general protection of nature and the environment. This approach requires a continuous participation of inhabitants and civil society at large. If protection should take place with people and not against them, it is necessary to promote acceptance, initiate continuous discussion and reflection about the functions of protected areas and organize active participation in their development. Especially during the implementation of protected areas there is a high need of explanation for the necessity of borders and zones to meet the aims of nature protection. Many different models and examples of participatory processes of protected areas, especially national parks, show how successful the integration of regional actors can be. To reach a continuous discussion and contribution of the population, it is necessary to examine the meaning of borders and develop a new understanding of their functions between protected and non-protected areas. Although the border has the role to delimitate, it should contribute to overcome itself and finally make itself unnecessary. Decoding borders of protected areas as restrictions, impulses and measures for man-biosphere-relations, can only happen throughout dialogue. Not simply teaching and studying, but common experiencing and understanding offers a chance for an area protection, that goes beyond national parks and other protected areas and makes room for sustainable development of regions. Local and regional Agenda 21 processes offer an appropriate political and organizational framework to cope with this challenge. By several examples of national parks in Europe the authors will illustrate experiences, possibilities and limitations linked with Agenda 21 models of regional learning processes under the umbrella of nature protection. Their fruitful implementation has only just begun.