Implementation of the NBSAP
The first National Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity of Croatia was adopted in 1999, and the second in 2008. The current strategy and action plan includes seven general strategic objectives: (1) conserve overall biological, landscape and geological diversity as an underlying value and potential for further development of the Republic of Croatia; (2) meet all obligations arising from the process of integration into the European Union and alignment of the national legislation with the relevant EU directives and regulations (Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, CITES Regulations); (3) fulfil the obligations arising from international treaties in the field of nature protection, biosafety, access to information, etc.; (4) ensure integral nature protection through cooperation with other sectors; (5) establish and evaluate the state of the biological, landscape and geological diversity, set up a nature protection information system with a database connected to the state’s information system; (6) encourage promotion of institutional and non-institutional ways to educate the public about biodiversity, and improve public participation in decision-making processes; and (7) develop legislation implementation mechanisms by strengthening legislative and institutional capacities, education, development of scientific resources, information, and the development of funding mechanisms... More »
Actions taken to achieve the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets
Important progress has been made in relation to inventorying and evaluating biological and landscape diversity, developing legislative and institutional frameworks, and improving the system for protecting natural values and managing resources.
The establishment of an ecological network in Croatia is prescribed by the Nature Protection Act (OG 80/2013), which identifies such a network as a system of interconnected or spatially close ecologically significant areas, which, by their well-balanced biogeographical distribution, contribute to conservation of biodiversity... More »
Support mechanisms for national implementation (legislation, funding, capacity-building, coordination, mainstreaming, etc.)
Priorities over the last five-year period were tightly associated with the process of acceding to the European Union which occurred in July 2013. In nature protection, this meant harmonizing legislation, including establishing effective enforcement mechanisms, and adopting the proposal for the EU’s Natura 2000 network. The final list of Natura 2000 sites was adopted in September 2013 by the Government, and contains over 700 proposed sites of community importance (pSCIs) (of which 174 sites are caves) and 38 special protected areas (SPAs)... More »
Mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing implementation
Created in 2002, the State Institute for Nature Protection is authorized to coordinate inventorying and biodiversity monitoring. Within this framework, the Institute collects, processes and compiles data on the state of nature, drafts reports, maintains databases and prepares expert bases for the protection of individual components of biological and landscape diversity (Habitats distribution map, Natura 2000, Cro Fauna, Cro Speleo and Cro Habitats databases), which will be consolidated into a comprehensive Nature Protection Information System (NPIS)... More »