On November 7, 2018, a second ECO KARST workshop titled „Setting goals and next steps for the economic and sustainable develpment“ was held in the eco-centre Budinjak in Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature park.

32 stakeholders from the local government, business, academia, local population and general public attended the workshop. The main objectives of the workshop were to inform relevant stakeholders about the results achieved in the ECO KARST project in the last few months as well as to continue with the activities initiated during the first workshop.

The participants were introduced to the workshop with a short presentation of results achieved in the ECO KARST project up to now, followed by the presentation of Mr. Dušan Klenovšek from the public institute „Kozjanski park“ from Slovenia. Mr. Klenovšek presented a role of Kozjanska regional park for the meadow orchards in the area as an example of good practice.

Led by an experienced moderator – Mr. Vedran Lucić from the BIOM association, participants worked in groups in order to identify and analyze the most significant Pro Biodiversity businesses in the area of Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature park.

In the second part of interactive session, participants were focussed on the determination of the priority activities for the selected ecosystem services, with the aim to reach long-term goals through Pro Biodiversity business in this area.

The workshop was closed by presenting results that would serve as a baseline for the final workshop in 2019.