Development of Methodology
and Tourism Management Plan
The aim of the project is the
development of a methodology and draft tourism management
plan for Zasavica Special Nature Reserve, to serve as a model
for all protected areas.
Management of protected area means adequate handling of all
resources within the given area. Protected areas need a management
plan that describes how tourism and other developments will
be managed. The primary goal is to ensure there is a clearly
defined direction for the maintenance or restoration of ecological
integrity in the park. A management plan should provide the
managers of the protected area with the tool to make appropriate
decisions for the efficient management of the available resources.
Today a lot of experience exists with regard of developing
such tourism management plans for protected areas (e.g. IUCN,
WWF, Nature Conservancy, Conservation Finance Alliance). The
project will make full use of such experience and will test
if those guidelines are applicable for Serbia and Montenegro.
The management plan will consist of vision and goals, objectives
and activities, for the implementation of the International
Guidelines for Biodiversity and Tourism Development of the
CBD, as well as incorporate the target of “financing
biodiversity” of the Kiev Resolution on Biodiversity,
to ensure the reconciliation of tourism investments and biodiversity
conservation. The plan is expected to be exported to other
countries in the region and be used for the development of
sustainable tourism in a network of protected areas once this
is established in the region.
In Serbia, a strategy for sustainable tourism is not developed
at the state level, and there are no projects for planning
and management of territories for sustainable tourism in view
of the requirements of the CBD and PEBLDS. At present the
NBSAP for Serbia is under development, nderlining the need
for a comprehensive and inter-sectoral approach to this issue.
There is also a critical gap in the field of good practices
and egulations concerning the management of protected areas.
Therefore, assistance within the framework of the Biodiversity
Service will be provided in order to develop a strategy, using
the Nature Reserve Zasavica as a model that could be used
for all protected areas in Serbia and Montenegro.
Zasavica
Special Nature Reserve is situated 70 kms west from
Belgrade, south from the Sava river, and east from the
Drina river. The territory of the protected area is 671
ha, a wetland including a 33.1 km long, curvy watercourse,
swampy forests, marshes and meadows, declared a Special
Nature Reserve in 1997 thanks to its rich plant and animal
wildlife, an especially high number of rare aquatic macrophytes,
a high diversity of fish community. Due to the richness
of the waterfowl (180 bird species, out of which 120 is
breeding here), the area is listed among the internationally
important bird areas (IBA) since 2000, and also proposed
for the national list of Ramsar sites.
The town of Sremska Mitrovica during the Roman Empire, in
the II-IV century A.D. was the political, military and administrative
center of Pannonia under the name Sirmium, leaving behind
valuable stone monuments, remnants of ancient roads and sewage
system, as well as palaces, baths and other buildings.
The aim of the 1st workshop is to inform and involve local
stakeholders and to determine a common vision for the development
of the area. The meeting will also help to establish cooperation
among different sectors affected by tourism activities and
development.
To ensure their informed participation, lectures will be
held on the following topics:
The aims and structure of the project
Sustainable development, sustainable tourism – definitions,
development of the concept
UNEP/CBD Guidelines for biological diversity and sustainable
tourism
Good practices and lessons learned for protected area
management
Based on the developed methodology, the tourism management
plan for Zasavica Special Nature reserve will be developed.
The draft management plan will take into consideration:
the compiled baseline information
the assessments made in the previous phases and
the formulated expectations and concerns of local stakeholders
The draft management plan will be then presented and open
for further public consultation. The findings of the assessments
and also the draft management plan will be presented and discussed
during the 2nd workshop, seeking input from the local stakeholders,
and getting their commitment for the implementation of the
measures and actions included in the management plan.
The contribution of the local stakeholders will be integrated
into the final version of the management plan, which will
include an action plan with the measures necessary to achieve
the defined goals with regards to biodiversity conservation
and sustainable tourism planning, management and monitoring.
Based on the experiences of the process, recommendations
will be formulated to national nature conservation authorities
on how to make full use of the methodology for other protected
areas. These recommendations and the experiences of the project
will be presented to stakeholders on the national level. The
necessary steps for applying the methodology to other protected
areas nationwide will be also discussed during this “National
stakeholder meeting”
