Public participation

Summary of the public participation - 2nd Sava RBMP

Summary of the public participation - 1st Sava RBMP

Public participation is one of the core principles in sustainable water management as required by the EU Water Framework Directive and Framework Agreement to the Sava River Basin (FASRB). The International Sava River Basin Commission (Sava Commission) in the framework of Sava River Basin Management Plans (Sava RBMPs) preparation ensures and encourage active public participation and facilitate involvement of all relevant stakeholders, creating a mechanism to ensure public participation and broad stakeholder involvement in the monitoring of implementation of the Sava RBMPs with the Program of Measures and its revision and updating.

Public participation activities in preparation of the Sava RBMPs can be summarized into three main categories:
Making the information about the development of the RBMP, publicly accessible throughout the preparation period, on the Sava Commission official website.
Preparation and presentation of publications containing information on the Sava RBMPs preparation, such as the official bulletin of the Sava Commission – Sava NewsFlash, a periodic publication regularly distributed to stakeholders directly and available through the Sava Commission official web site.
Presenting the development of the Sava RBMP at meetings of stakeholder groups in the Parties to the FASRB and Montenegro, organized by the Sava Commission or other organizations/institutions.
Meetings of the experts preparing the Sava RBMP with representatives of national authorities, research institutions, national and international NGOs aimed at collecting information and data, discussing issues related to the water management of the basin. provided valuable contribution in the formulation of the RBMP.
Consultation workshops at the transboundary level.
The overall process of the Sava RBMPs preparation is led by the Permanent Expert Group for River Basin Management (PEG RBM) of the Sava Commission.
Certain issues touching upon the Sava RBMPs have been subject to ad-hoc discussions of other expert groups, in accordance with their competence. A major stakeholders or stakeholder groups have an opportunity to actively participate in the process, as well as in all other activities of the Sava Commission, by gaining the Observer status. This opportunity is well-utilized by organizations already holding this status to actively participate at the meetings of the Sava Commission and its PEG RBM which is considered as a valuable asset during the process.