The Expert group meeting on harmonizing the national legal and institutional framework with ICZM Protocol took place during 18 and 19 May in the PAP/RAC premises in Split, Croatia. The first day of the Meeting was dedicated to the analysis of the contents and legal scope of the ICZM Protocol. The findings of the ProtoGIZC project, legal scope of the key Protocol provisions, and Protocol’s compliance with EU laws and Croatian legal framework were presented by IDDRI’s experts and later discussed and commented in detail by the Meeting participants. Apart from the mentioned issues, Croatian experts provided the participants with a detailed insight in Croatian and Montenegrin experiences related to public participation and spatial planning. On the second day, the focus of the Meeting was on the development of the National ICZM Strategies and ICZM Plans. The reports related to the analysis of the content and the legal scope of the Protocol, including the EU law and detailed elaboration of the Article 8 on the setback zone, will be integrated into a single report, i.e. “An Introduction to technical and legal aspects of the ICZM Protocol”, earlier known as an “Explanatory Guide”.
All the participants acknowledged the importance of the ICZM Protocol as a powerful tool for the sustainable development of coastal zones, but also agreed on the need for more efforts on further collaboration through interdisciplinary approach, capacity building and clarification of the vague terminology in some cases.
