Suchergebnisse

Sustainable tourism is extensively used as a panacea in the tourism discourse; however, there are still many challenges in its communication, understanding and efficient implementation. The work presented here aims to contribute to those issues by presenting the concept of greening tourism. Greening tourism is a response to the questions of competitiveness and ecological sustainability of tourism, but also the policies of United Nations and European Union. Market demands, available support mechanisms and accumulated experience through innovation by various stakeholders illustrate the potential for more systematic implementation of the concept. More so, it is argued that there is an opportunity to increase the multiplying effect to the local, in this case Croatian, economy by implementing the "greening" of tourism, defined as environmentally responsible, ecologically informative and educational. In other words, the greening tourism means smaller ecological footprint, contribution to the nature protection goals, improved competitiveness and market resilience, creation of new business opportunities, incorporating widespread use through EU funds and increasing profits and benefits for the local economy.

In the article we analyze the familiarity with the concept of ecosystem services, perceptions of their various dimensions and attitudes to them. The target respondents were employees working in public institutions responsible for public health, tourism and environment and/or nature protection. Drawing on the COST project ToBeWell, a questionnaire was designed in order to find out how the concept was perceived within those institutions in several EU countries, including Croatia. The research carried out on a non-probabilistic sample in Croatia showed satisfactory familiarity with the concept within tourism and environment/nature protection institutions but unsatisfactory familiarity within public health institutions. Although the concept was perceived as relevant across all three institutional domains, the governance of ecosystem services and the cooperation in public health, environment protection and tourism were rated unsatisfactory. ; U članku se analizira koliko je koncept ekosistemskih usluga prepoznat u različitim institucijama javnog sektora u Hrvatskoj te kakva je percepcija ili stav o njima. Ispitanici su zaposleni u javnim ustanovama u zdravstvu, turizmu i zaštiti okoliša/prirode. Prema COST-ovom projektu TObeWELL izrađen je upitnik o viđenju ekosistemskih usluga unutar tih ustanova u nekoliko zemalja Europske unije, uključujući Hrvatsku. Ispitivanje metodom namjernog uzorka u Hrvatskoj pokazuje da je u turizmu i zaštiti okoliša poznavanje ekosistemskih usluga zadovoljavajuće, ali je nezadovoljavajuće u institucijama javnog zdravstva. Međutim u svim spomenutim područjima ekosistemske usluge prepoznate su kao relevantne, iako je suradnja u upravljanju tim uslugama u zdravstvu, turizmu i zaštiti okoliša ocijenjena nezadovoljavajućom.

As required by Art. 29 of the Grant Agreement, each beneficiary must – as soon as possible – disseminate its results by disclosing them to the public by appropriate means (other than those resulting from protecting or exploiting the results), including in scientific publications (in any medium). As part of this obligation, within the SmartCulTour-project, multiple deliverables have been foreseen across work packages, to focus on an open access publication strategy. This deliverable provides metadata and abstracts of the publications residing under Work Package 4: "Assessing the impacts of cultural tourism". Deliverable 4.3 aimed to provide "A minimum of 3 academic papers on sustainable cultural tourism, resilience, and the TALC model" and therefore focuses on sustainable cultural tourism indicators, the link between cultural tourism development, sustainability and resilience, and the integration of cultural tourism, sustainability/resilience, and the tourism area life cycle. The full papers are available in open access and can be found by following the DOI links provided. The deliverable is a living document that, after initial submission, can be updated in case of additional scientific publications within the scope of Work Package 4.

As a response to increasing human pressures on marine ecosystems, the legislation aimed at improving the conservation and management of marine coastal areas in European and Contiguous Seas (ECS) underwent crucial advances. ECS, however, still remain largely affected by increasing threats leading to biodiversity loss. Here, by using emblematic case studies and expert knowledge, we review current conservation tools, comparing their application in different areas to assess their effectiveness, potential for synergies, and contradictions. Despite regional differences in their application, the existing legislative frameworks have the potential to regulate human activities and to protect marine biodiversity. However, four challenges remain to be addressed to fully achieve environmental policy goals: (1) Lack of shared vision representing a limitation in transboundary collaboration. Although all EU countries are committed to fulfil EU Directives and other binding international legislative acts, a remarkable heterogeneity exists among countries in the compliance with the common legislation on conservation and in their degree of implementation. (2) Lack of systematic procedures for the selection of protected marine sites. Regional and national approaches in designating Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated marine protected areas (MPAs) reflect varying conservation targets and importance of conservation issues in political agendas. (3) Lack of coherent ecological networks. Natura 2000 sites and other MPAs are still far from reaching the status of effective networks in all considered case studies. (4) Hotspot of conflicts with private economic interests prevailing over conservation aims. Recommendations are given to overcome the fragmented approach still characterizing the conservation and management of coastal marine environments. [.]

As a response to increasing human pressures on marine ecosystems, the legislation aimed at improving the conservation and management of marine coastal areas in European and Contiguous Seas (ECS) underwent crucial advances. ECS, however, still remain largely affected by increasing threats leading to biodiversity loss. Here, by using emblematic case studies and expert knowledge, we review current conservation tools, comparing their application in different areas to assess their effectiveness, potential for synergies, and contradictions. Despite regional differences in their application, the existing legislative frameworks have the potential to regulate human activities and to protect marine biodiversity. However, four challenges remain to be addressed to fully achieve environmental policy goals: (1) Lack of shared vision representing a limitation in transboundary collaboration. Although all EU countries are committed to fulfil EU Directives and other binding international legislative acts, a remarkable heterogeneity exists among countries in the compliance with the common legislation on conservation and in their degree of implementation. (2) Lack of systematic procedures for the selection of protected marine sites. Regional and national approaches in designating Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated marine protected areas (MPAs) reflect varying conservation targets and importance of conservation issues in political agendas. (3) Lack of coherent ecological networks. Natura 2000 sites and other MPAs are still far from reaching the status of effective networks in all considered case studies. (4) Hotspot of conflicts with private economic interests prevailing over conservation aims. Recommendations are given to overcome the fragmented approach still characterizing the conservation and management of coastal marine environments. [.]

As a response to increasing human pressures on marine ecosystems, the legislation aimed at improving the conservation and management of marine coastal areas in European and Contiguous Seas (ECS) underwent crucial advances. ECS, however, still remain largely affected by increasing threats leading to biodiversity loss. Here, by using emblematic case studies and expert knowledge, we review current conservation tools, comparing their application in different areas to assess their effectiveness, potential for synergies, and contradictions. Despite regional differences in their application, the existing legislative frameworks have the potential to regulate human activities and to protect marine biodiversity. However, four challenges remain to be addressed to fully achieve environmental policy goals: (1) Lack of shared vision representing a limitation in transboundary collaboration. Although all EU countries are committed to fulfil EU Directives and other binding international legislative acts, a remarkable heterogeneity exists among countries in the compliance with the common legislation on conservation and in their degree of implementation. (2) Lack of systematic procedures for the selection of protected marine sites. Regional and national approaches in designating Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated marine protected areas (MPAs) reflect varying conservation targets and importance of conservation issues in political agendas. (3) Lack of coherent ecological networks. Natura 2000 sites and other MPAs are still far from reaching the status of effective networks in all considered case studies. (4) Hotspot of conflicts with private economic interests prevailing over conservation aims. Recommendations are given to overcome the fragmented approach still characterizing the conservation and management of coastal marine environments. [.]

As a response to increasing human pressures on marine ecosystems, the legislation aimed at improving the conservation and management of marine coastal areas in European and Contiguous Seas (ECS) underwent crucial advances. ECS, however, still remain largely affected by increasing threats leading to biodiversity loss. Here, by using emblematic case studies and expert knowledge, we review current conservation tools, comparing their application in different areas to assess their effectiveness, potential for synergies, and contradictions. Despite regional differences in their application, the existing legislative frameworks have the potential to regulate human activities and to protect marine biodiversity. However, four challenges remain to be addressed to fully achieve environmental policy goals: (1) Lack of shared vision representing a limitation in transboundary collaboration. Although all EU countries are committed to fulfil EU Directives and other binding international legislative acts, a remarkable heterogeneity exists among countries in the compliance with the common legislation on conservation and in their degree of implementation. (2) Lack of systematic procedures for the selection of protected marine sites. Regional and national approaches in designating Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated marine protected areas (MPAs) reflect varying conservation targets and importance of conservation issues in political agendas. (3) Lack of coherent ecological networks. Natura 2000 sites and other MPAs are still far from reaching the status of effective networks in all considered case studies. (4) Hotspot of conflicts with private economic interests prevailing over conservation aims. Recommendations are given to overcome the fragmented approach still characterizing the conservation and management of coastal marine environments. [.]