Twinning Project SR07-IB-EN-02

The Twinning Project is developed in a partnership between the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of Serbia, on the one hand, and the Environment Agency form Austria together with the Austria European Public Law Organization from Greece, on the other hand. The project started on January 1st 2010 and will be finalized on December 31st 2011.

The overall objective of the project is the implementation and enforcement of the NATURA 2000 network in the Republic of Serbia.  More specifically, to improve protection of endangered species and their habitats in Serbia, to raise knowledge in the preservation of Serbia’s natural heritage and to increase the capacity to implement the legal standards in nature protection.

The project will contribute to (a) the harmonization of the Serbian legislation with the EU nature directives (Birds and Habitats Directive); (b) the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in accordance with EU criteria; (c) the development of two pilot management plans for NATURA 2000 areas and (d) the elaboration and implementation of a training programme which will systematically deal with capacity building in development of the NATURA 2000 network in Serbia.

Furthermore, in order to achieve these objectives a whole series of activities is planned including the analysis and assessment of the status quo, as well as workshops, seminars and trainings. In the course of the project, experts from EU Member States (Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece) will collaborate with the representatives of administration and stakeholder groups from Serbia in order to increase the capacity to implement the EU Acquis communitaire in nature protection.

Project data:
Finance: Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) of the European Union
Project budget: 1 Mio Euro
Beneficiary Institution: Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Republic of Serbia
Member State Institutions: Environment Agency Austria and European Public Law
Organisation, Greece
Duration: January 1st 2010-December 31st 2011, extended by addendum until June 30th, 2012.