Croatia ratified the Aarhus-Convention in the year 2007 and thus showed its commitment to public participation in environmental projects. Still, the practical implementation of the regulations varies in different regions of Croatia. Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) report irregularities with regards to the publication of public participation procedures. There are also reports of procedures, where participation is organised “pro forma”, with only profiled NGOs, i.e. organisations that are highly professionalised or have a high potential to mobilize protest, invited to give a statement on the plan or project. These irregularities are also reported concerning the region Karlovac for example.The preparation of the waste management plan in 2008 was carried out without public participation and the choice of a site for a planned waste management plant (Babina Gora) was criticized as intransparent by NGOs.
For this project the Zupanija was chosen, because contacts between the NGOs and Zelena Akcija were already established and there was an evident need for the NGOs to be trained on Aarhus related issues. The long lasting controversy surrounding the waste management plant in Babina Gora also offered a concrete opportunity to foster dialogue between regional NGOs and the administrative bodies. In the beginning of March 2010 the public participation procedure in the framework of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was supposed to be carried out.
