Slovenia converted the coastal road to “green oasis”

On 20 March 2017, after years of efforts by local municipalities, the road between the coastal towns of Izola and Koper in Slovenia was closed for traffic and converted to more sustainable uses such as recreation, bathing and enjoyment of the sea. According to the Slovenian Infrastructure Minister, the "green oasis" between Izola and Koper will pave the way for sustainable use of the coastal and maritime area and for the development of sustainable tourism. He added that the closing of the coastal road ment that Slovenia got back 10% of its coast, pointing to development opportunities for the area. The Izola Mayor stressed that locals had been waiting for this for years and that now it was time to crate a symbiosis of man and nature in the area.

Several plans and designs on how to arrange this new coastal area have already been proposed, including those from the CAMP Slovenia project completed about ten years ago. So, the closing of this road is a good example of the follow up of the CAMP, as well as of the ICZM Protocol implementation in Slovenia which has a very limited coastline.

In addition, several years ago, Skocjanski zatok - a degraded coastal wetland near the Port of Koper was renaturated and today is known as a Nature reserve and Natura 2000 site.