Stakeholder Councils Established in Three National Parks in Serbia

National Parks Tara, Fruška gora and Đerdap improving cooperation with local communities

Stakeholder councils which will enable better management of protected areas through connection with local communities are established in three national parks in Serbia – “Tara”, “Fruška gora” and “Đerdap” with support from WWF Adria program “Protected Areas for Nature and People”.

Ministry of environmental protection has defined stakeholder councils within the Law on National Parks in order to secure sustainable management of natural resources in the most valuable areas in Serbia.

Stakeholder councils gather members of local government, local community and organizations that implement their activities on the territory of the national park. They will now together be involved in the process of making management programs and plans, with the priority of securing better protection and promotion of that area.

Improving the management of protected areas in the Balkan is one of the priorities of WWF Adria within the program “Protected areas for nature and people”, which is financed by the Swedish Development Agency (Sida).

In addition to cooperation with the local population and resource users, the project promotes good regional and global practice examples on how local people can have socio-economic benefits from living in national parks.