In 2005 and 2006, thanks to financing from the European Environment Agency and in co-ordination with the Council of Europe, the implementation Phase II of projects in Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania took place.
The Emerald Network pilot project in Croatia was conducted in 2003 by the then Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning in co-operation with Croatian scientists with financial support from the Council of Europe.
| Name | International Status | Area |
| Plitvice Lakes National Park | UNESCO – World Heritage | 29.482 ha |
| Velebit Nature Park | UNESCO MAB | 200.000 ha |
| Lonjsko Polje Nature Park | Ramsar Site | 50.560 ha |
| Kopački Rit Nature Park | Ramsar Site | 23.400 ha |
| Neretva Delta – Proposed nature park | Ramsar Site | 11.500 ha |
| Crna Mlaka Ornithological Reserve | Ramsar Site | 625 ha |
| UKUPNO | 309.867 ha |
Creation of a web based application with an overview of the map of the ASCI areas and accompanying data from the Emerald database.
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Species
Resolution no. 6 of the Bern Convention lists 927 European species requiring special measures for the preservation of their habitats (i.e. Emerald species). This list also includes species from Annex II of the Habitats Directive and Annex I of the Birds Directive (i.e. NATURA species), in addition to a series of other species that are not found in EU territory.
227 species listed in Resolution 6, 123 listed on Annex I of the Birds Direktive and 130 listed on Annex II of the Habitats Directive are found in Croatia.
| Emerald/NATURA species in Croatia | Biogeographical regions
|
| Group | No. | PAN. | CON. | ALP. | MED. |
| Mammals | 20/20 | 11/11 | 12/12 | 15/15 | 16/16 |
Amphibians and reptiles
| 14/14 | 3/3 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 11/11 |
| Fish | 40/45 | 19/23 | 19/24 | 16/17 | 18/18 |
Invertebrates
| 21/33 | 4/8 | 16/23 | 10/17 | 10/12 |
Plants (vascular and mosses)
| 11+3/17+3 | 2/3 | 7/11 | 8/13 | 6/12 |
| Birds* | 118 (96 regular)/ 123 (100 regular) | | | | |
Table 1: Summary data about species by biogeographical regions
Lists of EMERALD/NATURA 2000 species in Croatia:
- biljke
- beskralješnjaci
- kralješnjaci
- ptice
Given that the lists of Resolution no. 6 of the Bern Convention and the Annexes of the EU Directives have minor discrepancies between them, the lists of species represented in Croatia are also not identical. They primarily differ in the species listed in the Annexes of the EU Directives that were supplemented by the new Member States at the time of their accession to the EU. Resolution no. 6, however, was not amended after 1998, and therefore is not aligned with the EU Directive lists from 2003.
| Group | NATURA only species |
| BIRDS | Falco cherrug |
| Charadrius alexandrinus |
| Oenanthe pleschanka |
| Larus minutus |
| Tetrao urogallus |
| PLANTS | Adenophora lilifolia |
| Cerastium dinaricum |
| Arabis scopoliana |
| Scilla litardierei |
| Himantoglossum adriaticum |
| Himantoglossum caprinum |
FISH | Umbra krameri |
| Gobio kessleri |
| Pelecus cultratus |
| Cobitis elongata |
| Gymnocephalus baloni |
| Cottus gobio |
| INVERTEBRATES | Austropotamobius torrentium |
| Carabus variolosus |
| Leptodirus hochenwarti |
| Erannis ankeraria |
| Leptidea morsei |
| Colias myrmidone |
| Nymphalis vaualbum |
| Coenagrion ornatum |
| Cordulegaster heros |
| Paracaloptenus caloptenoides |
| Theodoxus transversalis |
| Congeria kusceri |
Table 2: NATURA species in Croatia not included in Resolution no. 6
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Habitats
The Expert Committee for Species and Habitats established that 52 of a total of 187 Emerald and 72 of 218 NATURA habitats are distributed in Croatia.
Some of these are found in Croatia over large areas and/or at numerous sites, such as beech forests, oak-hornbeam forests, alluvial forests, eastern sub-Mediterranean dry grasslands, sea-grass meadows, caves and others. Other habitats are represented only in individual small sites that represent the final remnants in this region, such as peat, continental inland dunes, Pannonian salt flats or other types of grassland. Some habitats in Croatia are distributed only in fragments or isolated while they are significantly present in Europe.
| Emerald habitats in Croatia | Biogeographic regions
|
| No. | PAN. | CON. | ALP. | MED. |
| Emerald | 52 | 11 | 30 | 17 | 25 |
Table 1: Summary data about Emerald habitat types by biogeographic regions
Lists of EMERALD and NATURA 2000 sites in Croatia:
Just as the lists of species in Resolution no. 6 of the Bern Convention and the annexes of the EU Directives are not fully aligned, there are also certain discrepancies between Resolution no. 4 and Annex I of the Habitats Directive. During the most recent EU enlargement, Annex I was supplemented with new habitats, some of which are well represented in Croatia, i.e. the eastern sub-Mediterranean dry grasslands, the Illyrian beech forests and the Illyrian oak-hornbeam forests. However, certain classes important for this part of Europe are still missing.
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Sites
To date a total of 404 sites have been proposed as Emerald/NATURA sites. These encompass large areas important for conserve Croatia’s overall biodiversity, including Emerald/NATURA species and habitat types, as well as a significant number of small sites important only for a specific species or habitat. It is assumed that these areas cover more than 90% of the area of the future final proposal. This will likely be further supplemented with many new small sites important for specific species and habitats, for which there is currently insufficient data available on the distribution range. However, this should not substantially alter the overall area of the ecological network. In co-operation with competent experts and scientists, the State Institute for Nature Protection has drafted a research plan for the period 2007–2008, aimed at compiling the required data to finalize the NATURA 2000 proposal.
Data are predominantly lacking for marine areas. Currently, with the exception of important areas established for dolphins, sea turtles, posidonia beds and certain sea caves, individual sites foreseen for protection in county spatial plans have been added to the Emerald Network, though adequate data are not available for these sites.
There is also a lack of data on subterranean areas (caves and pits). Of the estimated 10,000+ objects in Croatia, only a small share of these have been biospeleologically studied. All biospeleologically important subterranean objects for which data exist have been included in the Emerald Network; the majority of the data for these objects has been compiled by the Croatian Biospeleological Society.
Lists of Emerald network sites:
Level I
Level II
Biospeleologically important sites
Emerald Network map
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Publications
Publication “Emerald Network in Croatia” gives the overview of the major activities and results of the Emerald Pilot and Phase II projects. There are several units emphasizing species and habitat types listed on Resolutions 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention, as well as on the Annexes I and II of the Habitats Directive, and species listed on Annex I of the Bird Directive. Overview of the database and Emerald sites can be found here.
This publication has been prepared in the framework of the “Emerald Network - Phase II”. In Croatia this project has been implemented by the State Institute for Nature Protection, based on the contract with the Council of Europe. This project has been implemented in several European Countries and coordinated by Council of Europe with the financial support from European Environmental Agency.
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Links
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In the period 2001–2003, the Council of Europe financed the implementation of Emerald Network pilot project in a number of European countries. 
Phase II of the Emerald Network project lists the following tasks in line with the contract between the Council of Europe and the State Institute for Nature Protection (SINP):
