Coastal Zone Management in Croatia

Abstract

By adopting the Law on Ratification of the Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, (ICZM) Croatia has committed itself to integrating spatial and economic planning and environmental, nature and cultural heritage protection in the coastal zone. The aim of the paper is to analyse the course of the implementation of the Protocol on ICZM, examine the existence of adequate technical and institutional capacity, as well as the political will to implement the Protocol. The authors find that two years after the ratification the key provisions of the laws relating to the environment protection, physical planning, construction, fisheries and other maritime issues are still not in line with the provisions of the Protocol. One of the biggest challenges is to formulate the framework of indicators for monitoring and evaluation of ICZM. The authors propose a set of fifteen indicators for monitoring the sustainability of the ICZM and development of the Croatian coastal counties.