Parks Dinarides in cooperation with partners Slovenian Forest Service (leading partner), and other project partners: institutions and parks from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Romania implemented the Interreg program EcoKarst.

The main aim of the project was support development based on sustainable management and recognition of the vulnerability of karst ecosystems by increasing the opportunities for the development of pro-biodiversity business – PBB.

The project covered 7 karst pilot areas in which the main challenge was to find a balance between nature conservation and protection and its sustainable use, because seven karst parks in seven different countries share similar problems, and lack of adequate knowledge is a limiting factor for mitigating ecosystem degradation and sustainable development.

The result of the project is improved management and sustainable development of karst bio – regions, through raising awareness of ecosystem services and an increased number of entrepreneurs in jobs that improve the state of biodiversity.

EcoKarst involved both the public and the business sector, who through capacity building, networking and know-how transfer, performed local participatory ES valorizations and jointly develop 7 local action plans and 1 common strategy that will upgraded nature conservation and facilitate starting PBB in the karst region.

Project promotional materials (leaflet/poster in PDF) are available here.

For more information, please, visit Interreg Danube ECO KARST project webpage.