RT journal article
T1 Marine Protected Areas Management in the Mediterranean Sea-The Case of Croatia
A1 Maestro Cano-Manuel, María
A1 Chica Ruiz, Juan Adolfo
A1 Popovic Perkovic, Zvjezdana
A1 Pérez Cayeiro, María Luisa
A2 HistoriaGeografía y Filosofía
K1 assessment
K1 Croatia
K1 management
K1 marine protected area
K1 public participation
AB Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely used tools to conserve marine ecosystems and their services. They are complex socio-ecological systems where human activities and nature interact. Croatia has 409 protected areas, of which 19 are coastal-marine. The aim of this paper is to analyze the management model of MPAs in Croatia and to identify their strengths and weaknesses. For this purpose, three MPAs have been chosen: Brijuni National Park, Telascica Nature Park, and Pakleni Islands Significant Landscape. The methodology used assesses 26 specific indicators to analyze the status of 4 key factors: management body, planning subprocess, public participation, and implementation subprocess. The results of this evaluation are 5 possible scenarios: proactive (1), learning (2), interactive (3), centralized (4), and formal (5) management. The results show that Brijuni presents a proactive scenario (1), Telascica an interactive scenario (3), and Pakleni Islands a centralized scenario (4). A series of measures are presented, which can improve the score. In general, MPA management in Croatia tends towards a proactive model, where the management body is its greatest strength. There is a shift from a top-down to a bottom-up approach, which implies a greater involvement of the population in decision-making. However, public participation is not yet fully consolidated.
PB MDPI
SN 1424-2818
YR 2022
FD 2022-06
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27509
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27509
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 21-sep-2026