Karst Ecosystem Conservation Project

The project development objective is to protect the biodiversity of karst ecosystems in Croatia in a way that is participatory, economically viable, and integrated with the country’s socio-economic goals. The project will address a key environmental policy issue facing the government - how to manage the country’s future growth and development, while protecting the environment, on the national and local level. The project will assist the Government to preempt the potential threats to biodiversity related to tourism and other economic development activities in the region. To do so, the project will assist the Government to address priorities identified in the Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan by (i) building the national capacity to conserve biodiversity and support natural resource management and (ii) establishing community based approaches for biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use in and between selected protected areas and their associate villages in the karst region. The project will demonstrate linkages, on a local level, between sustainable natural resource use, economic development and biodiversity conservation. It will support rural revitalization activities and increase the role of civil society in environmental decision-making. The project will also support regional, transboundary nativities to conserve the biodiversity of the Alp/Dinarid/Balkan karst mountain chain. The project is linked to the World Bank financed, $250 million Croatia Municipal Coastal Water Pollution Control Project.