The closing conference of the project „Wildlife Watch – increasing capacities for the sustainable use and monitoring of wildlife“ was held on 14th March 2016 in hotel Palace in Zagreb. The project partners were Public Institution (PI) Northern Velebit National Park, PI Paklenica National Park, PI Velebit Nature Park, PI Grabovača Cave Park, non-governmental organisation (NGO) Lička ekološka akcija, while Association BIOM acted as the project coordinator. The project budget was 156.000 € and it was co-financed by the European Commission through the IPA programme and by the Government of the Republic of Croatia Office for Cooperation with NGOs.

The main activities and results of the project were presented, with a special review on the increased role of civil society organisations which are linked with public institutions in the sustainable use of natural resources of protected areas. During the conference several talks were held. Vedran Lucić, the project manager, emphasised the importance that the project will have on the Velebit Mountain and Lika area in the future. Maja Tomičić from the Government of the Republic of Croatia Office for Cooperation with NGOs pointed out the significance of the IPA programme in co-financing projects for NGOs. Katarina Milković, director of PI Grabovača Cave Park, and Dubravko Čanić, president of NGO Lička ekološka akcija, presented the project from the perspective of project partners. Dr.sc. Gordan Lukač from PI Paklenica National Park presented how public institutions benefited from this project in the sustainable use of natural resources.

At the end of the workshop, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between project partners was signed. A part from them, the MoU was signed by the president of Local Action Group Lika, Tomislav Kovačević. This document includes future potential activities which the signatory parties could implement together.

You can find out more about the project on the web site www.govelebit.com.