COAST Project Documents

COAST Project Document is a product of a preparatory phase of the project (2003-2005) and served as a base for the award of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant totaling 6.988.000 USD given to the Republic of Croatia.

Project documents can be accessed here.



COAST Activities – Results

The first stage of the COAST Project dealt with producing an inventory, mapping, and analysis of existing biological and landscape diversity within the project demo areas.

Within the Project COAST Guidelines and priority actions for sustainable beach management in Croatia has been implemented. The main objective of beach management is to establish an optimal balance between preserving the natural values of beaches and sustainable use of their development potential. Guidelines has been implemented by the Priority Actions Programme/Regional Activity Centre (PAP / RAC).

Significant part  of the COAST project consisted of activities designed to introduce green business practices into agriculture, tourism, and fisheries and mariculture. 

Rural entrepreneurs can find all the information they need to set up a tourism business in a new guide published by the Croatian Ministry of Tourism with support from the COAST Project.  The rural tourism handbook: Step by step to a successful business, authored by Robert Baćac, is a useful compendium of information both for those currently running a rural tourism business and for those interested in the prospect of creating one.

Within the COAST Project support was given to the State Institute for Nature Protection (SINP) with the aim of introducing the procedure of appropriate assessment of the impact of projects on the ecological network in the coastal area. The result of this activity is the Manual which will be applied on the national level, thus setting up a national standard and a model for implementing appropriate assessments of the impact of projects on the ecological network, or Natura 2000 upon Croatia's accession to the European Union.

Given the fact that the issue of using renewable energy sources, wind energy in particular, is an increasingly pressing matter in the context of biologiocal diversity of Dalmatia, the evaluation of biological diversity of the area of Dalmatia has also been condacted, having in mind the provisional assesment for the construction of wind power plants (VE).

The methodology of the Manual and the evaluation of biodiversity have been applied on the selected pilot area - pilot study of the Main Assessment of the impact of project on the ecological network for the planned wind power plant VE Čemernica. 


Capacity Building

A significant part of project activity refers to capacity building targeting key stakeholders and institutions. This is divided in two. First is the organisation of seminars and workshops, which present best-practice models in the area of preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The second is strengthening main partners through employment and training of secondees who will also work on the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; primarily by ensuring that quality preconditions for green business development are created.