REC Country Office Croatia
 

Contents of this page:
Establishment Staff Achievements Projects Expertise Donors Contact address

Year of Establishment:
1993

Current Staff

Major Achievements:
The REC Country Office Croatia, throughout its existence in the country, maintains excellent cooperation with non-governmental organisations, environmental authorities and environmentally oriented economic entities in Croatia. The work of CO Croatia is supported by the network of institutions and experts from the lines of domestic and foreign institutions and companies, NGOs, universities and research institutes.

The country office has a reputation of being the main source of environmental information in Croatia (the second largest specialized environmental library in the country, with over 600 titles; a mailing list with over 300 addresses of NGOs, governmental institutions, media, businesses and interested individuals), and is a reliable instance for providing capacity building and technical assistance to NGOs, local and national authorities and industry in developing projects and fundraising for environmental initiatives.

The Country Office assists and facilitates some of the most important environmental processes and activities - including the Aarhus Convention and the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Program (REReP) for South East Europe - within the entire Croatian environmental community.
The Office is also one of the main promoters of the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency, especially focusing on building capacities of industry and the public sector for developing business plans for their cleaner production and energy efficiency projects.

Selected Projects:

• "Development of Public Participation Practices in Croatia" (1999-2000) and "Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making: Promoting Aarhus Principles" (2004-2005) provide a series of regionally tailored training workshops for various stakeholders, production of a PP Manual and of a Directory of Croatian Environmental Stakeholders and Funders
• "Strengthening of Croatian Environmental NGOs through the REC Country Office Croatia" (2000-2001) included management courses for young environmental NGO activists, and publishing of the Directory of Croatian Environmental NGOs
• REReP projects (2000-2006)
• "Promotion of Networks and Exchanges in the Countries of South East Europe" (2000-2006) and its continuation, "Neretva Delta Forum for the Sustainable Use of Shared Natural Resources" (2007-2008) are carried out on the Neretva Delta cross-border site, with the main aim of enhancing transboundary cooperation through the management of shared natural resources. Activities concentrate on community organising and capacity building activities, promoting natural and cultural values of the area, disbursing small grants to non-profit organisations, etc., all customised to local needs in cooperation with local stakeholders. Project activities in the last phase will focus on facilitation of the Neretva Delta Forum, as the future formal advisory body for enhancing protection and sustainable use of natural resources in the cross-border wetland area.
• "Energy Efficiency in Croatian Small and Medium Size Enterprises" (2003-2004) has reviewed current practises in energy management in SMEs with focus on sectors with highest energy consumption, as well as possibilities of networking of good practice examples. An interactive training programme has built the capacity of a number of SMEs to plan and implement different energy-efficiency measures and technologies, and resulted in case studies of companies with the highest environmental/economic benefits to qualify for further EE projects implementation.
• "Capacity Building and Project Development in Croatian Industry", through its two training cycles in the period 2004-2006, provided interactive trainings for development of business plans in 20 enterprises, including the links to potential funders of their energy efficiency and cleaner production projects.
• DISCUS - "Developing Institutional and Social Capacities for Sustainable Development" - was a fieldwork project on local sustainable development, encompassing 40 Europe-wide local communities (2003-2004), including Dubrovnik in Croatia
• Danube Regional Project - Access to Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making was aimed at strengthening public access to information and participation at different levels concerning water-related issues. In Croatia, it helped to build the capacities of responsible government authorities to provide water-related environmental information to the public and to facilitate public participation as required by the Aarhus Convention, the EU Water Framework Directive and other relevant directives. This was done through a series of trainings for local authorities and public utilities, resulting with a Guide for Government Officials on Access to / Provision of Information & Public Participation in Water Management & Environment Matters, first of its kind in Croatia. It also reinforced community involvement in solving water pollution-related issues in the Town of Osijek through creation of a multi-stakeholder Osijek Water Forum.
• "Water and wastewater training for industry - Preparation for IPPC Directive implementation in Croatia" (2006-2007) aims to contribute to preparing of the industry and of other interested stakeholders for the implementation of forthcoming legal obligations under the EU accession process
• "Waste Management in Dalmatian Counties", with EC-CARDS funding and in cooperation with foreign partners, drafted feasibility studies for establishment of 2 regional waste management centres in southern Croatia were finalised, to assist counties in Croatia in the implementation of the National Waste Management Strategy.
• "Approximation of Croatian Water Management Legislation with EU Water Acquis" should ensure a uniform approach and support effective transposition and implementation of the EU water management acquis in Croatia, including a legal, administrative and institutional assessment for implementation and control of the water management acquis, implementation plan for heavy investment directives, drafting of new Water Act and Water Management Financing Act, and drafting a sectoral approximation strategy & action plan.
  
  

Country Office Expertise:

• Information Dissemination
• Transboundary Cooperation in the Protection of Natural Resources
• Capacity Building for Governmental Authorities and Industry
• Institutional Strengthening and Environmental Policy Development in the Light of EU Accession
• Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making
• Strategic Environmental Assessment
• Business and Environment
• NGO Capacity Building, Networking and Grants Management
  

Major Donors and Clients:

• EC Delegation to the Republic of Croatia
• Italian Ministry of Environment and Territory
• Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation ( Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs )
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway
• Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Protection and Food Safety of the Netherlands
• UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, Croatia
• Ministry of Culture, Croatia
  

Contact address:
Djordjiceva 8a, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Tel: +385 (0)1 481-0774, 492-1117, 492-1126, 487-3622
Tel/Fax: +385 (0)1 481-0844
E-mail: rec@rec-croatia.hr
Web: www.rec-croatia.hr

Related information:

Map of Croatia

Home Page of Croatia

Country Report Croatia (Environmental profile PDF - 101 KB)

This page was last updated: 
May 2008

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