“Demining, restoration and protection of forest and forestland in protected and Natura 2000 sites in Danube-Drava regions – NATURAVITA” is one of the largest nature conservation project in Croatia, financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds.

It is a strategic project aimed at demining, reconstruction and protection of forest, forestland and water resources. The project area is degraded due to long-term mine contamination that does not allow safe accesses to visitors and management bodies, as well as the implementation of forest and Natura 2000 management plans.

The project is fully implemented in the Osijek-Baranja County area and covers forest and forestland in Natura 2000 and protected area, parts of Nature park Kopački rit and the Regional park Mura- Drava. The project implementation period is from June 23, 2015. until September 23, 2023.

At the 6th Session of the Council for Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, MA; contracts for projects in the following counties were signed: Virovitica-Podravina, Požega-Slavonia, Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem. The largest of these projects “Demining, reconstruction and protection of forest and forestland in protected and Natura 2000 sites in Danube-Drava regions – NATURAVITA”, was signed by the Minister of Environment and Energy Tomislav Čorić, the Chairman of the Bord of Croatian Forests Ltd. Krunoslav Jakupčić, the member of the Bord of Croatian Forests Ltd. Igor Fazekaš and the Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Dubravko Ponoš.

The total value of the project „Demining, restoration and protection of forest and forest lan din protected and Natura 2000 sites in Danube-Drava region – Naturavita“ is 376,8 milion HRK. The total amount of eligible costs of the project is 376.786.017,16 HRK of which 85% is financed by the EU, through the Cohesion Fund.

Through the implementation of project activities, 5,97 km² forest and forestland will be cleared of mines and other unexploded in the Nature park Kopački rit and 19,37 km² in the Regional park Mura-Drava. The firefighting infrastructure will be improved through the construction and reconstruction of 107 ha of fire breaks, 33 km of fire roads and 4 bridges. The biological restoration of forest and forest land will be carried on s surface of 1.021 ha, including through replacement of alien species with native species on 441 ha of the project area.  The plan is restoration 100 ha of rare wetland lawns. The educational and visitor Centre “Podravlje” will be renovated and to build 4 educational and recreational trails will build. The project will raise public awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the risk of mine contamination through the development and implementation of educational programs for school children, students and the local population.

The quality of waters and the level of conservation of ecosystems depend on water will be improved through definition of retention capacities, management objectives, definition and implementation of monitoring and the development of a Study on revitalization of the wetlands in the Nature Park Kopački rit.

The beneficiary of the project is Croatian Forests Ltd. together with project partners, Ministry of the Interior, Croatian Waters, Public Institution Kopački rit Nature Park and Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds.

The NATURAVITA project will be implemented within the framework of the European Union Operational program Competitiveness and Cohesion for the period 2014-2020, under the specific objective Demining, restoration and protection of forests and forestland in protected and Natura 2000 areas, from which 85% of the total budget for project is from the Cohesion Fund while 15% will be provided through the national co-financing, by project partners. The project will last for 5 years.