Spatial and sectoral planning support to sustainable territorial and tourism development of protected mountain areas in Serbia

Abstract

The starting point for easier resolution of conflicts between conservation and development should be the application of the concept of protected areas of natural heritage as social-ecological systems. This is also the precondition for attainment of strategic planning coordination for protected mountain areas (PMA). The objective of the paper is to provide the insight into the effectiveness of strategic planning support - spatial and sectoral planning - to sustainable territorial and tourism development of PMA in Serbia. The study area comprises Kopaonik and D{stroke}erdap National Parks, and Stara Planina Nature Park. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of strategic planning for PMA by means of analysis and evaluation of spatial plans, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and sector plans in tourism for the study area. The effectiveness of spatial planning is checked based on the analysis and evaluation of sustainability of zoning and land-use regimes, and of tourism development proposed by spatial plans for the study area. The conclusion is that it is necessary to apply holistic approach to sector planning for nature conservation and tourism development, and to apply SEA for tourism planning as well. Reduction of the spatial coverage of PMA and spatial differentiation of protected zones from the ones planned for intensive development is recommended.