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Social Context of Devastation in Protected Areas: A Case Study of the Plitvice Lakes National Park

Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park has become a national case of poor management in 2017, due to wastewater resulting from the arrival of one and a half million visitors a year. Plitvice Lakes are in the situation where UNESCO considers putting them on the list of endangered heritage sites. The case study method is used to investigate the social context of their devastation. Such context is permeated by the failure to protect the natural environment at the national level, and the local arbitrariness, grasping actions and wild apartmanization. The results are obtained using the desk method, newspaper analysis and interviews with local development actors (representatives of government, entrepreneurs and NGOs). The discussion is based on the “Plitvice paradox”: lakes are called "The Devil's Garden" for the wild and preserved rural landscape but endangered by massive use without systematic nature protection.

social context, devastation, case study, Plitvice Lakes National Park

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