Identification and management of marine Natura 2000 sites

The two-day seminar “Identification and management of marine Natura 2000 areas” was held in Dubrovnik in the framework of the project “Mapping, monitoring and management of the cross-border Natura 2000 network at sea” on 26 and 27 April 2016.

The participants of the seminar were representatives of institutions, civil society organizations and other nature conservation sectors from Croatia and Montenegro, as well as other EU countries. The aim was to familiarize participants with Natura 2000 network management obligations and discuss key management issues and potential solutions, forms of involvement and cross-sectoral co-operation in managing the Natura 2000 network. Representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Nature, as well as the representatives of the Croatian Environment and Nature Agency, presented legal frameworks for the implementation of the Natura 2000 network as well as previous experiences, while the representative of the European Commission spoke about the Natura network from the EU perspective and about the state of The Mediterranean, biogeographical processes and cross-border cooperation.

Extremely useful lectures were from associates from the UK, Italy and Ireland, who shared their experience with NATURA management. As a very significant segment of the seminar, panel discussions were also attended, with the participation of representatives of the relevant institutions and seminar organizers and participants from other public nature conservation institutions, representatives of national parks and nature parks, where there was the talk of everyday management issues and overlapping issues in the ecological network, and ways to solve existing problems best through the legal framework, as well as on day-to-day practice.

As a final part of the seminar, a study visit to the National Park Mljet on 28 April 2016 was organized to exchange experiences.

A study visit to NP Mljet included a lecture by an expert promotion associate of Ms. Lucija Hajdić on the natural values of the park as well as on the work and achievements of the Public Institution National Park Mljet. The second part of the visit was marked by expert leadership. Jakko Nodila, Senior Consultant at which participants had a chance to see the Small and the Big Lake and the Isle of Sv. Mary.

With this study visit, participants were motivated for further collaboration and communication within the sector.