Yesterday, March 19, 2026, a working meeting was held at the Visitor Centre The Drava Story in Noskovci for the Virovitica-Podravina and Osijek-Baranja County areas, with the aim of actively contributing to the drafting of the National Nature Restoration Plan of the Republic of Croatia.

The meeting was attended by Željko Vuković, State Secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Green Transition of the Republic of Croatia; Andrija Spaić from the Regional Office for Waterways Vukovar, Directorate for Inland Navigation; Mario Spajić from Hrvatske vode with colleagues; Nataša Rap from Hrvatske šume; Denis Urbanek, Head of the Department for Construction, Environmental Protection, and Property-Legal Affairs of VPŽ; Igor Ružička, Director of the Public Institution for Nature Protection of Osijek-Baranja County; Tatjana Arnold-Sabo, Director of the Public Institution Priroda Virovitica-Podravina County; and staff from both public institutions.

Like other EU member states, the Republic of Croatia is obliged to submit a draft of the National Nature Restoration Plan to the European Commission by September 1, 2026, with defined priorities for restoration at the national level.

The National Nature Restoration Plan must include nature restoration measures for the Republic of Croatia up to 2030, specifying areas and indicative maps of restoration measures. The section covering the period up to 2040 and 2050 will be presented in the form of a strategic overview of restoration measures.

During this meeting, several locations in each of the two counties were reviewed. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in April in the Osijek-Baranja County area.