**2. Development vision for the Croatian parks system**

The development vision for the parks system includes strengthening the credibility of all functions of protected areas in preserving natural and other values in Croatia, while also strengthening the influence of protected areas on sustainable development as a whole. The prominent management challenges involve increasing efficacy in conserving species and habitats, a higher level of adaptability in management, improving spatial planning, and more dynamic and elastic management of space in the sense of visitor reception and permitted activities.

all interest groups. The key stakeholders are the regional and local authorities, the business

**Figure 2.** Kopački Rit Nature Park (also called "European Amazon"), the oldest nature park in Croatia and UNESCO "Man & Biosphere" Reserve; situated in the central part of the Danube floodplain, between the Drava River and the

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An important part of the development vision for the parks system relates to improving the sustainability of financing. The perspectives for sustainable financing stem from social acceptance that the management concept must be based on clear financial mechanisms and diversified sources of funding such as state budget transfers, concessions and other fees, own revenues generated by park administration, domestic and international project funding, and so on. All revenues from fees for protected area services must be reinvested into conservation,

To that end, it is necessary to secure the threshold of financial sustainability of the protected area system at the ministry level, which should take into account not only the direct and indirect values of these protected areas but also the non-market and unused benefits, and services ensuing from their functioning [12]. Only such a validation structure for protected areas can cast a light on the significance and true costs of their functioning in the implementation of

According to Martinić [13], the generator of improvements to the Croatian parks systems should be the National Parks Agency (NPA). At the national level, this agency should be the leader of forming a single parks policy, and be responsible for presenting the common interests relating to the social validation of protected areas, their stable financing, professionalisation of park functions and tasks, position in relation to other sectors, and other issues.

Krka National Park is one of eight national parks in Croatia. The protected area, known for the many lakes and waterfalls, was proclaimed as a national park in 1985. It is situated in cen-

of the course of the Krka River, and the lower course of the Čikola

sector, associations, and the local population.

Danube River. (Photo: Goran Šafarek).

maintenance, and development of the system.

appropriate protection, conservation, and development.

**3. Krka National park as the trend leader**

tral Dalmatia over 109 km<sup>2</sup>

Part of the vision is directed at establishing new intersectoral alliances (among agriculture, forestry, tourism, etc.) to address the values and benefits of ecosystems in protected areas to support human health (**Figure 2**).

More so than in other spaces, in the future, protected areas will be polygons for seeking out and finding "natural solutions" to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In order to strengthen this vision, there are plans to establish8 a national climate change adaptation centre. The Puljani eco-campus in Krka National Park has been proposed as the future administrative seat of such a centre.

The development of the tourism function of protected areas and national park system, in the spirit of the recommendations of the most recent world parks congress,9 will lean more heavily on the principle of "connecting people with nature," that is, ensuring that visitation to natural areas is based on strict abidance of reception capacities, as a guarantee of achieving greater authenticity and ensuring a better quality experience during the visit, and preventing the degradation of the values of the protected area. On the other hand, the protected areas in Croatia should in the future serve as drivers of specialised tourism programmes. These programmes should be multi-day thematic visits, achieved in part on partnership with the local population, through accommodation, culinary offer, demonstration of old trades, and so on. In order to achieve this objective, it will be necessary to prepare and adopt a new tourism development strategy in protected areas, taking into consideration broad consultations with

<sup>8</sup> Primarily pertains to initiatives from the ministries responsible for environmental protection and nature, science and education, agriculture and forestry.

<sup>9</sup> Contained within "Promise of Sydney," recommendations of the IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, Australia.

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the UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MaB) programme, the Ramsar list of internationally impor-

The current operational objectives for the parks system pertain to improving the fundamental management documents, digitising boundaries, resolving property ownership issues and the like. A special objective of the NSAP is the establishment of a representative and functional network of protected areas, with the prior assessment of these protected areas according to the IUCN categories, and an analysis of their representativeness and functionality, in order to

The development vision for the parks system includes strengthening the credibility of all functions of protected areas in preserving natural and other values in Croatia, while also strengthening the influence of protected areas on sustainable development as a whole. The prominent management challenges involve increasing efficacy in conserving species and habitats, a higher level of adaptability in management, improving spatial planning, and more dynamic and elastic management of space in the sense of visitor reception and permitted activities.

Part of the vision is directed at establishing new intersectoral alliances (among agriculture, forestry, tourism, etc.) to address the values and benefits of ecosystems in protected areas to

More so than in other spaces, in the future, protected areas will be polygons for seeking out and finding "natural solutions" to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In order to strengthen

Puljani eco-campus in Krka National Park has been proposed as the future administrative seat

The development of the tourism function of protected areas and national park system, in

heavily on the principle of "connecting people with nature," that is, ensuring that visitation to natural areas is based on strict abidance of reception capacities, as a guarantee of achieving greater authenticity and ensuring a better quality experience during the visit, and preventing the degradation of the values of the protected area. On the other hand, the protected areas in Croatia should in the future serve as drivers of specialised tourism programmes. These programmes should be multi-day thematic visits, achieved in part on partnership with the local population, through accommodation, culinary offer, demonstration of old trades, and so on. In order to achieve this objective, it will be necessary to prepare and adopt a new tourism development strategy in protected areas, taking into consideration broad consultations with

Primarily pertains to initiatives from the ministries responsible for environmental protection and nature, science and

Contained within "Promise of Sydney," recommendations of the IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, Australia.

the spirit of the recommendations of the most recent world parks congress,9

a national climate change adaptation centre. The

will lean more

tant wetlands, the Geoparks network, and so on.

28 National Parks - Management and Conservation

support human health (**Figure 2**).

of such a centre.

8

9

education, agriculture and forestry.

this vision, there are plans to establish8

determine priorities and means of resolving outstanding issues.

**2. Development vision for the Croatian parks system**

**Figure 2.** Kopački Rit Nature Park (also called "European Amazon"), the oldest nature park in Croatia and UNESCO "Man & Biosphere" Reserve; situated in the central part of the Danube floodplain, between the Drava River and the Danube River. (Photo: Goran Šafarek).

all interest groups. The key stakeholders are the regional and local authorities, the business sector, associations, and the local population.

An important part of the development vision for the parks system relates to improving the sustainability of financing. The perspectives for sustainable financing stem from social acceptance that the management concept must be based on clear financial mechanisms and diversified sources of funding such as state budget transfers, concessions and other fees, own revenues generated by park administration, domestic and international project funding, and so on. All revenues from fees for protected area services must be reinvested into conservation, maintenance, and development of the system.

To that end, it is necessary to secure the threshold of financial sustainability of the protected area system at the ministry level, which should take into account not only the direct and indirect values of these protected areas but also the non-market and unused benefits, and services ensuing from their functioning [12]. Only such a validation structure for protected areas can cast a light on the significance and true costs of their functioning in the implementation of appropriate protection, conservation, and development.

According to Martinić [13], the generator of improvements to the Croatian parks systems should be the National Parks Agency (NPA). At the national level, this agency should be the leader of forming a single parks policy, and be responsible for presenting the common interests relating to the social validation of protected areas, their stable financing, professionalisation of park functions and tasks, position in relation to other sectors, and other issues.

## **3. Krka National park as the trend leader**

Krka National Park is one of eight national parks in Croatia. The protected area, known for the many lakes and waterfalls, was proclaimed as a national park in 1985. It is situated in central Dalmatia over 109 km<sup>2</sup> of the course of the Krka River, and the lower course of the Čikola River. The Krka River is marked by seven travertine waterfalls, and its beauty is in this natural karst phenomenon, and the exceptional wealth of flora and fauna, particularly birds.10 Each year, more than a million tourists from all over the world visit Krka National Park.

For more than a decade, Krka National Park has been among the leaders of the Croatian parks system, both in terms of its overall results and its exceptional accomplishments in specific management aspects. Results include the following:


To conserve nature and protect biodiversity, intensive inventarisation of species and habitats is performed regularly in the park, encompassing all ecosystem components. Monitoring is regular and, where required, protection measures are implemented. In order to reduce the detrimental impacts of human activities on biodiversity and the environment, the impacts of tourism on the park ecosystems are constantly examined, and mitigation measures implemented. A study on the preliminary visitor reception capacity was drafted with the aim of reducing the negative impacts of tourism [19]. The study defined the daily visitor quotas for the park in an attempt to ensure more effective visitor management and to prevent degradation of the park values. An important measure was the organisation of new visitor content in areas of the middle flow (Stinice, Roški slap) and upper flow (Burnum, Puljani, Nečven) of the Krka River. Considering the pronounced annual growth in the number of visitors11 and the increasing seasonal overload of certain park localities, since July 2017, visitor number restrictions have been implemented at Skradinski buk, by far, the most visited site in Krka National Park. The new visitor regime allows for a restriction of the number of visitors to Skradinski buk at one time to 10,000 visitors. In order to inform visitors and to regulate the number of visitors, display screens have been installed at the entrances to the park, indicating the number of available tickets that may be purchased at any time (**Figure 4**). Those visitors arriving during the busiest times are directed to wait, or are redirected to other less burdened areas of the national park. Krka National Park is the leader of the pack among Croatian protected areas in terms of the number of achieved joint projects with the regional and local authorities. The high level of cooperation with and contributions to the local community is accomplished through the stimulation and development of programmes that bring sustainable solutions and win-win results to successfully respond to development goals and challenges of protected areas, and to the social and economic needs faced by the local and regional community and national authorities. The main framework of these programmes will comprise the new spatial plan of Krka National Park.<sup>12</sup> One of the main professional areas of focus in the new spatial plan will be that the majority of

**Figure 3.** Stairway on the trail towards the "Oziđana pećina" cave in the NP Krka—view of the cascades (known as

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"necklaces") on the Krka River at the Roški slap. (Photo gallery NP Krka).

11In 2016, a total of 1,071,561 visitors entered the park, with an annual growth of 12.6% in comparison to 2015.

12Adoption of a new spatial plan for Krka National Park is expected by the end of 2017.


These accomplishments, above all, should be attributed to a strong management concept of Krka National Park, which has achieved financial and overall management sustainability based on good organisation and the application of functional project management models [18]. Such a management approach in the park serves to protect the park resources, and ensures a high level of service for visitors, while placing equal significance on the execution of conservation programmes, enforcement of the law, supervision over concessions and the performance of commercial activities, with high quality information services and visitor safety.

In the management of Krka National Park, the principles of adaptive management are applied. This is based on strictly defined tasks and responsibility of individual services, with the aim of achieving specific project goals. This requires precisely defined procedures, activity leaders and resources, all focused on the clearly defined indicators of goal achievement, and accompanied by dynamic reporting.

<sup>10</sup>More about Krka National Park at: www.parkovihrvatske.hr/nacionalni-park-krka?

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River. The Krka River is marked by seven travertine waterfalls, and its beauty is in this natural karst phenomenon, and the exceptional wealth of flora and fauna, particularly birds.10 Each

For more than a decade, Krka National Park has been among the leaders of the Croatian parks system, both in terms of its overall results and its exceptional accomplishments in specific

• Integral validation and a high level of conservation of natural and cultural values, through its approach to applying research results to raise the scope and quality of conservation, and to create new solutions in management and/or development of park products and services. • Wide ranging contribution to the development of the local community, achieved through employment of local people, hiring local operators for specific park functions (i.e. firefighting measures, boat transfers of visitors, etc.), equipping structures of common interest (park branch offices, information centres), and improving the local municipal infrastruc-

• Investing ongoing efforts to enhance the visitor experience through dynamic development of organised visitor systems, in which the key elements are a unified visitor management plan, diversified models of ticket sales, synchronised network of entrance points, internal

• Ongoing research on the reception capacities of the protected area and constant efforts to unburden the most heavily visited sections of the park, through the development of inno-

• Inclusion in global visitor trends for protected areas through the creative development of a park programme that meets the specific and sophisticated visitor sensibilities, including exhibits, festivals and performances, active education, participation in authentic culinary

These accomplishments, above all, should be attributed to a strong management concept of Krka National Park, which has achieved financial and overall management sustainability based on good organisation and the application of functional project management models [18]. Such a management approach in the park serves to protect the park resources, and ensures a high level of service for visitors, while placing equal significance on the execution of conservation programmes, enforcement of the law, supervision over concessions and the performance of commercial activities, with high quality information services and visitor safety. In the management of Krka National Park, the principles of adaptive management are applied. This is based on strictly defined tasks and responsibility of individual services, with the aim of achieving specific project goals. This requires precisely defined procedures, activity leaders and resources, all focused on the clearly defined indicators of goal achievement, and accom-

vative visitor management solutions and the affirmation of new visitor locations.

year, more than a million tourists from all over the world visit Krka National Park.

management aspects. Results include the following:

transport system, route directions, and so on (**Figure 3**).

10More about Krka National Park at: www.parkovihrvatske.hr/nacionalni-park-krka?

ture (roads, sewage, etc.).

30 National Parks - Management and Conservation

and wine events, and so on [14–17].

panied by dynamic reporting.

**Figure 3.** Stairway on the trail towards the "Oziđana pećina" cave in the NP Krka—view of the cascades (known as "necklaces") on the Krka River at the Roški slap. (Photo gallery NP Krka).

To conserve nature and protect biodiversity, intensive inventarisation of species and habitats is performed regularly in the park, encompassing all ecosystem components. Monitoring is regular and, where required, protection measures are implemented. In order to reduce the detrimental impacts of human activities on biodiversity and the environment, the impacts of tourism on the park ecosystems are constantly examined, and mitigation measures implemented.

A study on the preliminary visitor reception capacity was drafted with the aim of reducing the negative impacts of tourism [19]. The study defined the daily visitor quotas for the park in an attempt to ensure more effective visitor management and to prevent degradation of the park values. An important measure was the organisation of new visitor content in areas of the middle flow (Stinice, Roški slap) and upper flow (Burnum, Puljani, Nečven) of the Krka River. Considering the pronounced annual growth in the number of visitors11 and the increasing seasonal overload of certain park localities, since July 2017, visitor number restrictions have been implemented at Skradinski buk, by far, the most visited site in Krka National Park. The new visitor regime allows for a restriction of the number of visitors to Skradinski buk at one time to 10,000 visitors. In order to inform visitors and to regulate the number of visitors, display screens have been installed at the entrances to the park, indicating the number of available tickets that may be purchased at any time (**Figure 4**). Those visitors arriving during the busiest times are directed to wait, or are redirected to other less burdened areas of the national park.

Krka National Park is the leader of the pack among Croatian protected areas in terms of the number of achieved joint projects with the regional and local authorities. The high level of cooperation with and contributions to the local community is accomplished through the stimulation and development of programmes that bring sustainable solutions and win-win results to successfully respond to development goals and challenges of protected areas, and to the social and economic needs faced by the local and regional community and national authorities. The main framework of these programmes will comprise the new spatial plan of Krka National Park.<sup>12</sup> One of the main professional areas of focus in the new spatial plan will be that the majority of

<sup>11</sup>In 2016, a total of 1,071,561 visitors entered the park, with an annual growth of 12.6% in comparison to 2015.

<sup>12</sup>Adoption of a new spatial plan for Krka National Park is expected by the end of 2017.

marks of success in managing protected areas, it could be stated that the Croatian parks system

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An important hurdle for improving management of the Croatian parks system is the lack of a comprehensive strategic plan for protected areas, systematic weakness of the institutional framework, ineffectiveness in resolving outstanding issues (legal and property relations, spa-

For the continued development of Croatian protected areas, their ongoing revision is required. At the national level, it is necessary to adopt a strategy to strengthen the credibility with specific instruments to improve management and to define the priorities in resolving outstand-

The national parks system is expected to strengthen the contribution of developing the local communities, through sustainable and win-win solutions, which will have equal success in responding to the development challenges of protected areas and to the socioeconomic needs

Future priorities in improving the tourism function of protected areas should be placed on optimising organised visitor systems and achieving greater authenticity and quality of the

With the existing management concept of Krka National Park, based on functional and project organisation, a decisive advantage has been gain in management efficacy, which ensures a high level of results of Krka National Park in all fields of management. Many of the key objectives of protected areas have already been accomplished, to the highest level of excellence, and some have been recognised as the best global practice in managing protected areas.

An important management challenge the park still faces is the need for an efficient response to protected biodiversity and ecosystem services through the establishment of a higher level of adaptability and management elasticity, above all to reduce the impacts of climate change and the increasing pressures of growing numbers of visitors and the consequences that these

An important impulse in achieving the management goals of Krka National Park will be the adoption of the new spatial plan, which will set out to define the spatial organisation of park infrastructure and visitation models, and to define the possibilities of developing permitted

activities in the park, and their content, positioning, and intensity.

\* and Drago Marguš<sup>2</sup>

2 National Park Krka, Šibenik, Croatia

\*Address all correspondence to: martinic.ivan@gmail.com

1 University of Zagreb – Faculty of Forestry, Zagreb, Croatia

is achieving excellent results in best practices of protected area management.

tial planning, etc.), and issues concerning sufficient financing and cost structures.

ing issues in protected area functioning.

of their broader surroundings.

visitor experience.

impacts bring.

**Author details**

Ivan Martinić<sup>1</sup>

**Figure 4.** Krka National Park; display screen at the Lozovac entrance with information on the current number of tickets available for Skradinski buk. (Photo: TRIS/J. Krnić).

activities surrounding visitors will concentrate on existing visitor sites or those where visitation can have a lesser impact on the most ecologically valuable areas in the protected area.

A special challenge in the management of Krka National Park is the need for an effective response to conserving biological diversity and ecosystem services in light of climate change. Such tasks will certainly increase the requirements for a management model that will focus on the work of the park administration on protecting ecosystem integrity and establishing greater ecosystem elasticity. In the proposed initiative for the establishment of a national centre that would address the issues of adapting park management to climate change, Krka National Park can provide the opportunity of hosting the administrative seat of such a centre at the Puljani eco-campus.

The development of tourism function of Krka National Park is directed at further optimisation of an organised visitor system, to achieve greater authenticity and to improve the quality of the visitor experience. A very important accomplishment in the park management will be the expected inclusion of the park onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in the near future. Krka National Park already meets the general and additional criteria for inclusion onto the UNESCO World Heritage List,<sup>13</sup> particularly the integrity criteria. The strongest support for this inscription is the adopted and successfully implemented Management Plan and the many years of successful management and excellent results.
