Management Gorski Kotar

Development of the Management Plan for large carnivores in Gorski Kotar

Gorski Kotar is the most important site for the conservation of large carnivores in Croatia. It is a huge area of ca 2,700 km2 that is included in the draft list of NATURA 2000 sites for the country. As part of the implementation of the Habitats Directive, one of the objectives of the project was to develop a Management Plan for the area, in cooperation with local communities and other stakeholders through the organisation of a series of workshops.

As a first step a steering committee was established. This steering committee will be responsible group for discussion of management in the area. Before the workshops started PHARE Project team had many face to face meetings with important stakeholders and most of the problems raised by them were noted in order to ensure that this workshop was successful.
A common vision for the Gorski Kotar area was elaborated in cooperation with all stakeholders. The problems relating to large carnivore management were clustered and intensively discussed. The whole process of this collaboration is now summarized in a management report. All relevant objectives and activities for this NATURA 2000 site are agreed between SINP, PHARE Project team and the stakeholders. After finalization of the official proposal of NATURA 2000 sites these will be edited into a management plan for this NATURA 2000 site.