Natura 2000 implementation Fact Sheet

The Natura 2000 implementation Fact Sheets are there to provide information on the

most recent situation on the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives in your

country. The Fact Sheets should provide information to other members of the Working

Group and other interested people outside your country and is intended to help the policy and

lobby work of the Head Office. The information will be published on the CEEWEB

homepage, as well. This is not a thorough analysis of the situation but rather a quick

snapshots report which can be easily updated in regular terms (every half year) and thus

enables others to follow-up the recent developments at the national level. It aims to explore

the main problem/impediment in each area and the reasons behind, and then analyse the

situation more in details.

Country: Republic of Serbia

Person filling in: Milka Gvozdenovic

Organisation: Young Researchers of Serbia

Date: 05/10/2010

Country background in the frame of EU integration

For better understanding of Natura 2000 related processes it is important to know that Serbia has status of

EU potential candidate country. Serbian National Parliament adopted the Resolution on the EU

Accession on 14 October 2004 (with full agreement about joining the EU, readiness to meet the political

conditions for joining the Union, the obligation of the National Parliament to give the priority to the

process of legal harmonization with the acquis communautaire, preparation of the Serbian National

Strategy for the Association). On 9 September 2008 National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia ratified the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and the Interim Agreement. The SAA and

Interim Agreement were signed on 29 April 2008 in Brussels. In December 2009 Serbia applied for EU

candidacy. Application is to be considered.

1. Designation

Designation process did not start yet. However, as many countries in Western Balkan region, Serbia

has implemented projects which can be very useful and serve as a bases for future Natura 2000 sites

designation. The most important projects are:

Establishment of Emerald network, under the Bern Convention (Convention on the Conservation

of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats). The programme benefited from a financial contribution

of the European Environmental Agency and represented an important tool contributing to the

preparation of the country for the future work on Natura 2000 and for advance compliance with the

Habitats and Birds Directives. A total of 61 areas, which are particularly important for the protection

and conservation of flora, fauna and their habitats, have been selected for the Emerald project and

the envisaged ecological network in Serbia. Some areas are of particular importance at the

international level, i.e. MAB Biosphere Reserves (1 site), Ramsar Wetland Areas (6), Internationally

Important Plant Areas (IPA; 33), Internationally Important Bird Areas (IBA2009 – 42), Prime

Butterfly Areas (PBA; 7).

In autumn 2010 Council of Europe is starting with the preparation of biogeographic seminars for

Emerald network. This exercise will strengthen capacities of authorities and NGOs for future work

on Natura 2000.

Important Bird Areas (IBA) have been identified on almost complete territory of the Republic of

Serbia. Work on the IBA started at the beginning of 1980ies, when on the territory of Yugoslavia 57

IBA areas were identified, of which 16 in Serbia. In 1997 IBA II project was conducted and resulted

in 35 areas nomination. In 2009 IBA III project resulted in 42 area, covering 14,25% of country

territory (1 260 000 ha). Additional work in needed especially in the region of Eastern Serbia.

EMERALD ecological network covers 11.48% (1 0142 86.87 ha) from total area of Republic of

Serbia.

Map of Emerald network in Serbia Map of IBA in Serbia

Source: Institute for Nature Protection of Serbia

2. Legislation

Which are the main pieces of legislation in your country to transpose the HD&BD&Liability

Directive into national legislation (e.g. governmental, ministerial decrees, others)?

Process of transposition of Birds and Habitats Directives is ongoing in Serbia. There is no

information available about Liability Directive. At the moment Directives (BD and HD) are to be

transposed in main national laws (e.g. Nature Protection Law, EIA Law, SEA Law, Law on

Tourism, Law on hunting etc.). Nature Protection Law foresees development of Governmental

Decree for appropriate assessment procedure and Ministerial decree for compensation measures.

In the table below is presented analyses of experts’ team on IPA Twining project on Natura 2000,

showing the state of transposition.

Legislative/ administrative Serbian act Direct transposition of

norms of HD and BD

Fully/widely/ partly/not

transposed/

Indirect transposition in the

sense of modifying

(contradictory/additional)

duties

Fully/widely/partly/not

transposed

1. Nature Protection Law Partly transposed*

2. Rulebook on declaration &

protection of protected & strictly

protected wild species of plants, animals

+ fungi

Not transposed

3. Rulebook about criteria and

indicators for designation of protected

areas - Draft 2010

Not applicable*

4. Rulebook on habitats – Draft

2010

Work in progress

5. Law on Protection & Sustainable

use of Fish Stocks

Partly transposed

6. Law on Strategic Environmental

Assessment

Widely transposed

7. Law on Environmental Impact

Assessment

Partly not transposed

8. Rulebook about the content of an

application for EIA & application for

setting the scope & content of EIA.

Not transposed

9. Governmental Decree about the

list of projects obligatorily or

facultatively subject to EIA

Not transposed

10. Law on Spatial Planning and

Construction

Partly transposed

11. Law on Environmental

Protection

Not applicable*

12. Law on Environmental

Protection Fund

Not applicable*

13. Law on Agricultural land Not transposed

14. Law on Agriculture and Rural

Development

Not applicable*

15. Law on Livestock production Widely transposed

16. Law on Game and Hunting Not transposed

17. Law on Energy Not transposed

18. Law on Mining Not transposed

19. Law on Army Not applicable*

20. Law on Tourism Not transposed

Are you aware of any gaps in your national legislation? Are there any parts of the HD or BD or LD

which are not fully/correctly transposed?

Following the instructions of the experts’ group national authority started with transposing specially

Habitat Directive in Nature Protection Law. At the moment (October 2010) Government has been

adapted New Nature protection Law without public involvement and consultation on the changes it

brings. The Law is now in Parliament procedure. It is interesting that, although transposition is

going, there is still no official translation of Bird and Habitats Directives in Serbia language.

* Act not considered relevant due to having no link to Natura 2000 obligation

Are you aware of any gaps in “practical implementation” of the HD, BD or LD?

Since we are in early stage of transposing it is hard to say what the gaps in practical implementation

are.

4. Institutional framework

What improvements happened in the last 1-2 years regarding institutions implementing N2000?

At the moment, institutions planned to lead implementation of Natura 2000 have a support on

capacity building. This is very important and needed. Foreign experts are willing to share

experiences from other countries, to do required work on legislation and practical work for sites

designation.

Project "Strengthening Administrative Capacities for Protected Areas in Serbia (NATURA 2000)"

has the overall objective to strengthen implementation and enforcement of the NATURA 2000

network in the Republic of Serbia. The project will contribute to the harmonization of the Serbian

legislation with the EU nature directives (Birds and Habitats Directive); the establishment of the

Natura 2000 network in accordance with EU criteria; the development of two pilot management

plans for NATURA 2000 areas and the elaboration and implementation of a training programme

which will systematically deal with capacity building in development of the NATURA 2000

network in Serbia. In order to achieve these objectives a whole series of activities are taking place

including the analysis and assessment of the status quo, as well as workshops, seminars and

trainings. In the course of the project, experts from EU Member States (Austria, Germany, Czech

Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Greece) collaborate with the representatives of administration and

stakeholder groups from Serbia in order to increase the capacity to implement the EU Acquis

communitaire in nature protection.

All information, with detailed analyses and outcomes of this project are available on the web page

http://www.ekoplan.gov.rs/n2ktwinning

Regional project ‘’Strengthening the capacity of Governments and civil sector in Serbia and in

Montenegro to adapt to EU Nature Protection Aquis’’, with WWF Mediterranean Program Office as

main implementer, will: support the State Institute for Nature Protection of Montenegro in

establishing a functional N2000 database with mapped, updated and field-verified data; strengthen

the role of NGOs in the process; build capacities of key government sectors in Montenegro and in

Serbia to understand EU conservation policy, establish communication and begin integrating EU

nature conservation requirements into policy making.

Non-governmental organizations in Serbia are joined in network called ‘’Natura 2000 resource

Center’’ and have a series of capacity building programmes related to Natura 2000.

Do you consider the institutional framework (institutions, staff and administrative tools) dedicated

to implement Natura 2000 as

a.) largely sufficient (there is enough capacity to administer tasks and to coordinate the

activities)

b.) capacities are sufficient in some fields but could be improved elsewhere

c.) lack of institutional capacity is a major drawback for the implementation. The situation could

be improved through: future capacity building and reorganization of the existing structure.

Do you consider the intersectoral cooperation (e.g. between implementing ministries)in the field of

Natura 2000 as:

a.) largely sufficient (the cooperation between different implementing bodies is good)

d.) there is some cooperation but it is not sufficient to implement Natura 2000

e.) intersectoral cooperation is not a reality yet, the main responsibility is still within the

environmental institutions. The situation could be enhanced through: involving other sectors

in capacity building and planning of programs for Natura 2000 in Serbia.

5. Financing1

Not applicable for Serbia, there is no financing mechanism established.

6. National Agricultural Rural Development Programme

Not applicable for Serbia.

7. Management

No applicable for Serbia.

Information and awareness

Again, Serbia is in specific situation since the real work on Natura 2000 did not start yet. But, based

on experience from meetings and consultations following can be said:

What is the overall public attitude towards Natura 2000 in your country?

a.) General public is not aware of Natura 2000

b.) General public is aware of Natura 2000 and is generally in favour of it

c.) General public is aware of Natura 2000 and is generally not in favour of it

d.) There is a lot of misconceptions about Natura 2000 as a result of negative communication

What is the attitude of effected stakeholders (e.g. farmers, local administration) towards Natura

2000 in your country?

a.) Stakeholders are not well informed and are not aware of Natura 2000

b.) Stakeholders are generally in favour of Natura 2000

c.) Stakeholders are generally not in favour of Natura 2000

How is the distribution of general information on Natura 2000 (general information, name of sites,

land register information, species&habitats information, maps, etc.) in your country?

a.) Most of the important information is publicly available on websites, in publications etc.

b.) A lot of important and necessary information is not easily available for the public

Have all land owners been adequately informed about the Natura 2000 designation of their land?

a.) Yes.

b.) To a limited extent

c.) No.

THANK YOU!

1 Except for the Agricultural Rural Development Programme, see later