National Development Strategy Croatia 2030: Roadmap for a Better Future

Current efforts to plan for adaptation to climate change are insufficient.
Croatia is highly vul-
nerable to the impacts of climate change and has identified water resources (consumption and irrigation), 
coast and coastal zones, forestry and land use change, agriculture, biodiversity, and human health as its 
most vulnerable sectors. National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) covering the period until 2040 with a view 
to 2070 and the National Action Plan (NAP) are being finalized and should be adopted in 2020. Climate 
adaptation actions are yet to be adequately embedded in sectoral strategies. Also, further development of 
national capabilities to monitor climate change and undertake research activities in this area is necessary.
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The impact of climate change on the economy, especially agriculture production, is a matter of 
the highest importance. 
Projected climate change impacts and risks include biodiversity loss, lower 
yields, soil degradation, more pests and diseases, and forest fires, all of which bring potentially significant 
economic losses. Crops production will be particularly hit due to a lack of access to irrigation water and 
drying tendencies in precipitation. For the fisheries sector, mostly for capture fisheries and, to a lesser 
extent, for aquaculture, the impacts of climate change will appear through a variety of vectors: sea-level 
rise, increase in sea temperature, acidification and extreme weather events.
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Growing tourism already exerts very strong pressures on the environment and results in many 
unintended consequences in major tourist centers.
Negative effects include the devastation of the urban 
landscape due to the construction of accommodation facilities, congestion and increasing costs for the 
maintenance and construction of the supporting infrastructure. Some of the most valuable natural resources 
need to constantly improve visitors’ management policy in order to prevent the negative impact of high 
numbers of visitors. A similar situation also occurs with many cultural attractions, which continuously 
receive more visitors and therefore need to find new management modes.
152.