Workshop “Management of the Sava River Basin in light of accession to the European Union”

On May 25 2006, the National Workshop “Management of the Sava River Basin in light of accession to the European Union”, within the Regional Project “Strengthening the participation of NGOs in implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in the Sava River Basin”, was held in premises of the NGO “Green Action” in Zagreb. Main goals of the Workshop were education on Water Framework Directive, analysis of the current state-of-condition in Republic of Croatia in regard to implementation of the Water Framework Directive and possibilities of involvement of the non-governmental sector in Sava River management process, as well as introduction to work of the Sava Commission, as organization which would coordinated the process on preparation of the unified Sava River Basin Management Plan.

On the meeting, which was attended by representatives of several NGOs interested in implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the Secretary of the Secretariat of the Sava Commission, Dr Dejan Komatina, presented the Sava Commission through overview of its role, the work strategy, as well as the so-far and the planned activities. Special attention was devoted to issues such as development of the Sava River Basin Management Plan, then the public participation within this process and possibilities of participation of the NGOs. Among else, in very active discussion after the presentation, issue of the on-going activities on rehabilitation of navigation on the Sava River and its main navigable tributaries was discussed, first of all in context of the environmental impact, more precisely to the aquatic eco-system. Within discussion, the conversation on collaboration of NGOs – participants on the Project with the Sava Commission was initiated. Namely, these organizations expressed their interest to obtain the observer status in the Sava Commission.