IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i16p9920-d885471.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Participatory Approach to Wetland Governance: The Case of The Memorandum of Understanding of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park

Author

Listed:
  • Katarina Polajnar Horvat

    (Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Primož Gašperič

    (Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Kim Leban

    (Soline Pridelava soli d.o.o., Seča 115, 6320 Portorož, Slovenia)

  • Jure Tičar

    (Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Aleš Smrekar

    (Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Abstract

Wetlands are defined as dynamic ecosystems that combine the characteristics of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and are important from ecological as well as social and economic perspectives. In response to the intense degradation and alteration of wetlands, communities have developed various management strategies. One of the ways to achieve more effective participatory wetland management is to introduce the concept of a Wetland Contract, a voluntary agreement that ensures sustainable management and development of wetlands. This study on the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park in Slovenia follows the methodology of the preparation (legal framework, scientific description and stakeholder analysis) and implementation (organization of Territorial Labs, scenario planning and development) stages of the Wetland Contract concept. Of approximately 200 potential stakeholders, 34 participated in the Territorial Labs, and 16 stakeholders signed the less binding type of Wetland Contract, called the Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding and its implementation process, which included systematic cross-sectoral participation, successfully overcame conflicts between stakeholders with different interests. The methodology used has shown great potential for further applications in wetlands of common interest.

Suggested Citation

  • Katarina Polajnar Horvat & Primož Gašperič & Kim Leban & Jure Tičar & Aleš Smrekar, 2022. "Participatory Approach to Wetland Governance: The Case of The Memorandum of Understanding of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:9920-:d:885471
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/9920/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/9920/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katarina Polajnar Horvat & Ales Smrekar, 2021. "The Wetland Contract as a Tool for Successful Wetland Governance: A Case Study of Ljubljansko Barje Nature Park, Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eduardo Cândido Cordeiro Gonçalves & Ricardo Jorge da Costa Guerra & Vítor Manuel Pinto de Figueiredo, 2023. "Green Tourism and Sustainability: The Paiva Walkways Case in the Post-Pandemic Period (Portugal)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sandra Ricart & Antonio M. Rico-Amorós, 2022. "Can agriculture and conservation be compatible in a coastal wetland? Balancing stakeholders’ narratives and interactions in the management of El Hondo Natural Park, Spain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 589-604, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:9920-:d:885471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.