€2.35 million for Kornati's habitats: what the project covers

A new contractual step following an earlier funding approval

Item 10 on the Croatian government's agenda for 21 October is consent to conclude a grant agreement for Kornati National Park. The project has the identifier PK.3.7.05.0028 and aims to conserve and restore habitats and species on land and at sea.

The funding has not only just emerged. According to the explanatory memorandum, the environment ministry's grant decision dates from 16 February 2026. The park reported it on 2 March. Its governing board approved the conclusion of the agreement on 7 September; the October document concerns the additional government consent required.

The published file is labelled as a draft decision and still contains blank fields for the decision date. It documents the subject and funding of the procedure, but on its own proves neither that a grant agreement has already been signed nor that all work has begun. This distinction remains important even if a brief report already describes the scheme as a completed project.

The grant and total value are two different amounts

The government proposal gives €2,352,220.76 as both the total project value and eligible costs, excluding VAT in each case. Of this, €1,999,387.64 is the grant. The remaining €352,833.12 is to come from the park authority's own earmarked funds. In round figures, the grant covers 85 per cent.

Anyone speaking of “just under two million euros for Kornati” is therefore referring to the grant. The full project is larger. Nor do the published amounts constitute a breakdown into individual construction or supply contracts already awarded. Later tenders and project announcements will determine when particular measures are implemented.

Why sheep are part of a conservation project

The park authority describes traditional sheep farming as important for the open Mediterranean grasslands. Plans include grazing infrastructure and the restoration of small water bodies. The project description also lists limiting the jackal population, controlled burning of overgrown grassland and removing Aleppo pines at priority locations as landscape management measures.

This description is not a set of instructions for visitors or land users. Fire and interventions in vegetation, in particular, have no place in a spontaneous outing. The interesting connection is that protecting Kornati also involves the managed island landscape, not just the underwater world.

At sea, the focus is protection and reducing pressure

For the marine component, the park lists remote surveillance of particularly strictly protected zones, additional more environmentally compatible anchoring sites and the removal of old and abandoned fishing gear. Research and monitoring of habitats and species are to accompany the measures. The scheme is linked to the park management plan for 2024–2033.

A funding allocation for anchoring sites does not yet tell you which buoy a boat may use today. The project description establishes neither a new booking system nor available spaces for a particular travel date. For that, you need the park's current visitor information.

For your next sailing trip, specific authorisation still matters

Anyone heading to Kornati should therefore not navigate by an abstract funding amount. What matters is the current park rules and the uses confirmed on site or by the operator. A future facility should be included in route planning only once its location and operation have actually been published.

For further reporting, the signed agreement, contract awards, specific work periods and verifiable results will now be of interest. Until then, it is already possible to explain what the money is intended for and why land and marine conservation belong together here. That explanation is not a substitute for an opening date.