The role of zoning in the strategic planning of protected areas: lessons learnt from EU countries and Serbia

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to highlight the problems and possibilities for improving the nature protection zoning of protected areas (PA) in spatial planning. It analyses and compares the systems of spatial planning and the legal basis for protecting nature in PAs in selected EU countries and Serbia. It investigates and compares the role of nature protection zoning and the practice of spatial planning for selected European countries. The case study of a national park in each of the selected countries is used to analyse the nature protection zoning and its role in the coordination of spatial planning for PAs and their surroundings. The initial hypothesis is tested and confirmed that, regardless of differences in the planning systems of the selected European countries, the models of nature protection zoning established for PAs are defining for the coordination of planning instruments in achieving the protection and sustainable development of PAs. The lessons learnt concern the identification of similarities and differences in approaches to nature protection zoning, and their relationship with the spatial planning for PAs in six European countries. Based on these lessons and existing research, recommendations are given for improving the legal basis for the nature protection zoning and spatial planning of PAs in Serbia.

KEYWORDS:

• Protected areas
• nature protection zoning
• legal basis
• spatial planning
• EU countries and Serbia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Marina Nenković-Riznić http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4431-4151

Additional information

Funding

This work has resulted from research within scientific projects No TR36036 ‘Sustainable development of the Danube area in Serbia’, No III 47014 ‘The role and implementation of the National spatial plan and regional development in the renewal of strategic research, thinking and governance in Serbia’ and No 47027 ‘Serbs and Serbia in the Yugoslav and International Context: Internal Development and Position within European/World Community’, financed by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.