Inside perspective on the Second MAG Meeting in Croatia

Lively discussion took place at Institute for Development and International Relations where we held our second MAG meeting.

This time we’ve invited more stakeholders and we had also representatives from the city (local community).

Our Second MAG meeting started as an informal gathering with lunch to relax and motivate the participants. Due to working obligations of our stakeholders, we started meeting at 2 pm, so that more people could come.

Participants were invited to be free and comment and get involved in discussion at anytime during the meeting.

More people equals more opinions! Some participants primarily see their activities and interest in the park so we constantly had to go back and focus them on the topic. We re-explained and repeated the project’s goals, quoted all partners and case studies, said what have we done so far and what is expected in the future. The most interesting  part of this project for them is the infrastructure that they can use for their actions so we had to remind them that this project is not infrastructural, but scientific and that this infrastructure that is planned to be installed is an outcome of the project not the goal. However, the innovative mechanism that should be implemented within SINCERE is aimed towards development of recreation infrastructure based on the demands from stakeholders. This has peaked their interest, and they became more optimistic to what SINCERE can bring to the area.

Our in-kind partner IDIR presented the results of questionnaire conducted at the Park, from which we learned that 70% of people don’t know what ecosystem services are.

So, our next task is clear, a media campaign with information about ecosystem services.

Nevertheless, in spite of all the drawbacks, we have successfully conducted the meeting and passed all the agenda items.