IUCN Programme Office for South-Eastern Europe

This study focuses on the area which stretches along sections of the border region between southwest Serbia and eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the central part of the Drina River Valley. The study examines the possibilities for establishing a transboundary protected area, in this case a biosphere reserve, and analyses the transboundary cooperation in this region to date. This study represents the preliminary assessment analysis of one of the six project sites of the project “Environment for People in the Dinaric Arc”.

The Neretva Delta region is a predominantly rural area of approximately 20,000 hectares, shared by Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The region supports the livelihoods of approximately 60,000 people living in nine municipalities - seven on the Croatian side and two in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study represents the preliminary assessment analysis of one of the six project sites of the project “Environment for People in the Dinaric Arc”.

This study explores the possibilities and challenges of the existing regional collaboration between Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and Una National Park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of six pilot sites in the project “Environment for People in the Dinaric Arc”. The objective of the study is to survey the possibilities for transboundary conservation, i.e. establishment of transboundary protected areas and associated cooperation mechanisms.

This publication aims to further raise awareness about the value of transboundary conservation, highlighting the many benefits transboundary cooperation generates, while not neglecting the challenges and problems parties encounter when they engage in transboundary initiatives.

This publication reflects on and reinforces the lessons and experience of undertaking transboundary conservation programmes and sets out some existing and new guidance for those involved. It proposes a diagnostic approach to determining what the underlying purpose is for the transboundary initiative, and to guide the practitioner to respond to this purpose and need when the programme is designed and implemented. This advice is presented in the form of a very useful self-assessment tool developed from a suite of underlying case studies from pilot sites in the Dinaric Arc.

There are a number of EU policy areas that could have a direct or indirect impact on nature and biodiversity, and without effective application of cross-compliance principles, conservation efforts cannot be successful. The current publication does not make an attempt to cover all those areas but instead it presents in detail those most relevant to the protection of nature. It covers the concept of Green Infrastructure as an effective approach of combating the increasingly fragmented European landscape.

There are a number of EU policy areas that could have a direct or indirect impact on nature and biodiversity, and without effective application of cross-compliance principles, conservation efforts cannot be successful. The current publication does not make an attempt to cover all those areas but instead it presents in detail those most relevant to the protection of nature. It covers the concept of Green Infrastructure as an effective approach of combating the increasingly fragmented European landscape.

There are a number of EU policy areas that could have a direct or indirect impact on nature and biodiversity, and without effective application of cross-compliance principles, conservation efforts cannot be successful. The current publication does not make an attempt to cover all those areas but instead it presents in detail those most relevant to the protection of nature. It covers the concept of Green Infrastructure as an effective approach of combating the increasingly fragmented European landscape.

There are a number of EU policy areas that could have a direct or indirect impact on nature and biodiversity, and without effective application of cross-compliance principles, conservation efforts cannot be successful. The current publication does not make an attempt to cover all those areas but instead it presents in detail those most relevant to the protection of nature. It covers the concept of Green Infrastructure as an effective approach of combating the increasingly fragmented European landscape.

This publication aims to further raise awareness about the value of transboundary conservation, highlighting the many benefits transboundary cooperation generates, while not neglecting the challenges and problems parties encounter when they engage in transboundary initiatives.