Press Release

Government approves Triglav National Park Act

At today’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia approved the text of the draft Triglav National Park Act, and submitted it for discussion and passage to the National Assembly.

The Triglav National Park (TNP) is Slovenia’s only national park, and one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. The current TNP act from 1981 is outdated and therefore needs to be amended to suit its purpose.

The draft act draws on the environmental and conservation principles laid down in the Environment Protection Act and the Nature Conservation Act. With it, the proposing party seeks to achieve a uniform definition of the territory, better regulate the Park’s management, become involved in the decision-making process, achieve synergy in financing, and include the public in the Park’s management. The draft act also stipulates sustainable development opportunities for the local populace, and makes provisions for including the latter in the decision-making process. The main innovation, however, is the inclusion of the wider interested public in the Park’s management through a TNP forum.

The Government discussed the preparations for the serial trans-national nomination of prehistoric pile dwellings on the Ljubljana Moor to the UNESCO World Heritage List, endorsing the participation of the Republic of Slovenia in a joint serial trans-national nomination Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. The Government instructed the Ministry of Culture to coordinate all the procedures and implement all the activities regarding the nomination, and submit all the necessary materials to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris. The Head of the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Slovenia to UNESCO has been authorised to sign the nomination dossier and other related documents, which must be signed by the Republic of Slovenia as a Convention signatory.

The Ljubljana Moor is one of Slovenia’s major archaeological sites. Among the finds recovered in the area are the remains of a wooden wheel and axle, which was discovered in the spring of 2002 at Stare gmajne pile dwelling in the southwest of the Moor. Scientists have found that the wheel and axle once formed the ‘chassis’ of a prehistoric cart built and used some 5,200 years ago. The finding is a testament to the remarkable technical skill of the pile dwellers. Research into similar dwellings around the Alpine mountain range points to the existence of a civilisation that thrived long before the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built and, at least on the Ljubljana Moor, continued to exist even after the collapse of Ancient Egypt.

Slovenia has nominated two sites of prehistoric pile dwellings, both of which can be found in the municipality of Ig. Like other similar sites, these two have already been entered in the cultural heritage register of the Ministry of Culture, while the procedure for designating them cultural monuments of national significance is to be completed shortly. The area is well maintained and protected, and therefore requires no additional interventions. Major archaeological finds are kept in museums in Ljubljana and Vienna, while the centre of Ig is home to a unique sculpture modelled after a prehistoric female figurine that was discovered at the nearby site.

At today's session, the Government agreed on the text of the draft Act Ratifying the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context.

Slovenia is party to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context, which was ratified by the Act Ratifying the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context. On 22 May 2003 Slovenia signed the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context, drafted on 21 May 2003 in Kiev in Ukraine. The Protocol has been ratified by 11 countries and the European Community and will enter into force ninety days after the sixteenth ratification document is deposited, adopted, approved or accessed.

Slovenia is actively implementing the provisions of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context and fulfilling its goals. Therefore, at the fourth meeting of the parties to the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment, it was designated as the country responsible for speeding up efforts to enforce the protocol among the parties to the convention as soon as possible.

The Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context encompasses the provisions to the Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, particularly stressing the cooperation of the public in decision-making on environmental issues, including the possibility of including the public in determining the commitments of strategic environmental assessment and the extent and content of the environmental report, and access to legal protection with regard to environmental issues. The Protocol also stipulates the possibility of including environmental and health aspects in policy-making and drafting legislation.

At today's session the Government agreed to extend the duration of the Memorandum between the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on mine clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the auspices of ITF until 11 December 2010.

The Memorandum between the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on mine clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the auspices of ITF was signed by the foreign ministers of both countries 11 December 1998, and has been extended three times since, on the last occasion in 2006.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is among those countries most contaminated with mines. Therefore, in its 2009–2013 strategy, the ITF envisaged that it would work in the country until the date when the strategy expires. After 2013, Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to assume financial responsibilities connected to counter-mine operations. Should donors express interest, the ITF will remain in the country after this date.

In the 1998–2008 period, ITF spent over 128 million dollars of donor funds in the country. In over 1,700 counter-mine operation projects, the ITF cleared over 50 square kilometres of contaminated areas, which is 49% of all cleared areas in the country.

The ITF is also very active in mine victim assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it now primarily focuses on the education and training of medical professionals and other experts involved in mine victim assistance. One of the key partners in the implementation of the assistance programme is Soča?, the University Rehabilitation Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.