In Brijuni National Park, Croatia, great emphasis is given to the role participatory approaches in climate change adaptation and mitigation. In this tiny Protected Area of the Northen Adriatic, the ecosystem-based approach makes the base of an effective management.
A Participatory Approach, together with education, may be the first and most important step to adapt to climate change in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). It is crucial for fostering the relationship between communities, organizations, and societies increasing their efficiency and power. Working closely with stakeholders on a daily basis is all that MPAs need for an effective ecosystem-based approach and effective management.
A comprehensive environment, motivated and informed stakeholders willing to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, and citizens who recognize the exceptional value of the area where they live in and work.
Why stakeholders matter?
Different stakeholders are present and active in different MPAs. Usually national and local Authorities responsible for setting policies and regulations; research Institutions, SMEs, NGOs focused on conservation, research and monitoring; educational institutions and schools; local communities with divers, fishermen, tourists and tourism operators; and finally, the citizenship that does not belong to these groups.
Each stakeholder has their own perception of the MPA and also their own benefit. Therefore, effective MPA management requires balancing these diverse interests and power dynamics. For a well-managed MPA part of the focus has to be devoted to stakeholders’ engagement.
Stakeholders In Brijuni National Park
Brijuni National Park consists of 14 islands, islets and cliffs situated along the western coast of Istria in the Adriatic Sea. The islands are not inhabited and the biggest part of the National Park, 80% of the territory is in the sea and it’s managed by the Public Institution Brijuni National Park.
Besides, a minor part is managed by the State Office for State Property Management and used by the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Additionally, a smaller part is managed by the Honorary Defense Battalion, which is an ancestral unit of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia (OS RH).
These entities conform the main stakeholders of the park, which counts with more than 300 employees and receives more than 260.000 visitors every year. Nonetheless, according to the last stakeholders mapping and in addition to the aforementioned entities, Brijuni National Park counts with around 200 additional stakeholder groups, including various SME, NGOs, education and research institutions, local, regional and national authorities as well as sectoral agencies and, to end with, the general public. Hence, finding the balance between conservation and economy sometimes is really challenging.
An example of Participatory Approach for climate change adaptation
In 2022, a Participatory Approach among the local stakeholders was performed by the Public Institution Brijuni National Park. The overarching goal of the climate change Adaptation Plan was to determine those actions needed to address the climate change impacts in the Brijuni National Park and facilitate its efforts in achieving its conservations goals.
Graphic portraying the type of stakeholders engaged in Brijuni National Park´s participatory process – Image provided by Brijuni National Park
The process engaged 161 participants with the objective to produce and validate a well-structured local climate change mitigation and adaptation. Since there is no one-size-fits-all approach for such task, a methodological approach was applied.
During the Participatory Approach the MPA proposed a list of 15 measures, with the aim to mitigate the climate change effect, to the stakeholders. All the measures were validated and considered by the stakeholders and voted in order to prioritize them and select the 5 most important ones to be integrated in the Management plan of the MPA. The 5 selected and most voted measures by the stakeholders were:
- Collaborate with other users of Brijuni National Park (Ministry of Defense, State Real Estate, concessionaires) on the development and implementation of CC adaptation measures.
- Establish targeted research and monitoring of key marine species relevant for monitoring of the impact of climate change.
- Collaborate with divers on the development and implementation of sustainable tourist activities of the Brijuni National Park and the promotion of the added value of such activities.
- Establish targeted research and monitoring of marine invasive species relevant for monitoring of the impact of climate change.
- Monitor the conservation status of key marine habitats, such as Posidonia meadows and the coralligenous communities.
The entire set of 15 measures were selected and voted at least once, which indicate the importance of every single measure and the effectiveness in identifying every single one of them. The results were also analysed for each group of stakeholders in order to optimize the meetings and the work in a way to meet their needs and ensure a long-term collaborative management of the MPA.
Lessons learned from the process
The most important all the lesson learned from the Participatory Approach in Brijuni National Park is that education and awareness raising activities are the most important types of action in terms of engaging effectively with stakeholders. Keeping them informed and part of the process from the very beginning ensure their collaboration and interest.
When we initiated the participatory process, our objective was to finalise it with win-win solutions that address everyone’s needs and ensure a collaborative management of the MPA. For this reason, building consensus towards reaching this agreement is very important, since no decision should be made against the will of an individual or a minority.
To end with, based on our experience in running this participatory process, our main recommendation is to encourage other MPAs to deploy participatory approaches among their local communities in order to fully achieve their goals and needs. To guide them in the process and help them to develop a climate change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan, they can use the guidelines developed in the framework of MPA4Change, both on Participatory Approaches and on how to create an adaptation and mitigation plan.
