Integration of Ecosystem Management Principles and Practices into Land and Water Management of Laborec-Uh region (Eastern Slovakian Lowlands)

Integration of Ecosystem Management Principles and Practices into Land and Water Management of Laborec-Uh region (Eastern Slovakian Lowlands)

GEF (Biodiversity, OP-12), UNDP

Government of Slovakia, NGOs, Farmers

Upper Tisza River Basin / Carpathians (Eastern Slovakia Lowlands, Laborec and Uh Rivers)

2005-2010

975,000 (GEF); Co-financing: Government 3.0 M, NGO's 10k, municipalities 10k, farmers 10k

PDF-A under implementation, MSP expected as of 2006

The purpose of the proposed project is to facilitate a sustainable transition by water managers, farmers and other resource managers in Slovakia’s Eastern Lowlands from conventional water and agricultural management techniques to integrated ecosystem management practices. In so doing, resource managers will conserve globally significant biodiversity and reduce nutrient loading of the Danube River.

The expected starting date is January 2006. The project addresses the development and implementation of self-sustaining water and land management resulting in expanding area of (semi-)natural floodplain habitats. The project area is bordered by Laborec and Uh Rivers, the Zemplinska Sirava reservoir in the North and a large drainage canal draining into the Uh River in the South, falling within the Michalovce district, one of the poorest regions of Slovakia. The project will establish a LEADER partnership within the region encouraging set up of new environmentally friendly businesses, benefiting from the improved quality of natural floodplain habitats. The project has a very high potential for replication in similar floodplain areas in Slovakia, EU member states, as well as in accession countries in the Balkan region (especially in the Danube River basin).

Expected outcomes

• Stakeholders will adopt a long-term strategy for ecosystem-based water and agricultural management practices;
• Stakeholder capacity, policies, and incentives to implement Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM) will be strengthened and operational;
• Stakeholders will pilot model ecosystem-oriented biodiversity conservation practices;
• Best practices and lessons learned from the experience of implementation of IEM in the pilot area will be disseminated to other regions of the Eastern Lowlands, as well as other new EU members and accession states in the Danube River basin for systematic replication.

Klara Tothova