Human Development Report - Croatia 2008 Coastal Zone and Sea-Level Rise^75
struction Law (in effect from the end of 2007). As a
result, large tourist development zones (most pre-
existing) outside of settlements, were designated
or maintained. However, the planning and devel-
opment of these zones will require major financing
from powerful investors and thus excludes locals.
Since locals are unwilling to take most of the jobs- in particular the low-wage ones – offered by tour-
ist businesses, foreign workers are employed during
the tourist season, particularly on the islands. Since
an increased number of recently privatized hotels
are trying to extend the tourist season, many of
these workers will tend to become permanent resi-
dents. No social assessment of this process and its
implications has yet been made.
Consequently, several fundamental policy issues
and key questions will need to be addressed for the
coastal zones, as follows:- What is the correct response to the strong pres-
sure for intensive coastal urbanisation, often
without the necessary infrastructure (primar-
ily real estate development, namely secondary
homes, sometimes hidden or combined with
tourism development)? - What instruments is the Government ready to
apply to ensure a more equitable distribution
of the extra profit generated through land-
use decisions (planning gain or increased land
value when land is designated as buildable in
land-use plans)? - How will policy ensure that locals are not ex-
cluded from future economic (mostly tourism–
related) development – particularly on the is-
lands? How is it possible to counteract severe
aging, depopulation, and abandonment of the
traditional economic sectors and to ensure
that immigration does not have negative social
consequences?
- What is the correct response to the strong pres-
Different approaches to these issues may lead to
different scenarios for the future of coastal com-
munities. Failing to deal with intensive urbanisationmay lead to future environmental degradation of
the coast, inevitably associated with biodiversity
and landscape diversity loss – turning the Croa-
tian coast into something akin to Spain or Italy. Not
dealing with the equitable distribution of economic
development would result in further social segre-
gation and the loss of the trust of local people in
any spatial planning policy. A positive sign is the
recently prepared draft Law on Agricultural Land
(now in Parliament for adoption), which tackles
this issue by capturing at least part of the planning
gains and earmarking them for local agricultural
development.
To ensure that tourism-related development does
not exclude locals, a supportive environment, which
includes small and medium scale investment op-
portunities and educational programmes, must be
cultivated to enable both domestic investors and
workers to participate in local tourist development.
If not addressed, this issue may lead to further de-
population, uncontrolled immigration by foreigners
(from more robust socio-economic environments)
and the loss of the traditional local character and
identity.
Finally, development planning itself is very limited.
The local self-government system is overly frag-
mented and lacks the human and financial capac-
ity required for the efficient decentralization of
responsibilities and the formulation of sustainable
development strategies. This equally applies to the
local capacity for planning and implementing the
complex infrastructural projects necessary to mini-
mise the environmental impacts of new develop-
ments. Because the new Planning Law in most cas-
es requires infrastructure to be in place before new
development takes place, and given the limited lo-
cal capacity to organise infrastructure construction,
the result is a slowing of investment activities along
the coast. However, this may not be a bad thing for
local communities and the environment.Gojko Berlengi, COAST Project Manager, UNDP - Croatia