Issues of driving in the natural environment

Conference on issues of driving in the natural environment highlighted the need for legal regulation.



Yesterday, 20 June 2013, in the hall of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana, the Alpine Association of Slovenia, the Fishing Association of Slovenia and the Hunting Association of Slovenia organized a conference on the issues of driving in the natural environment titled PROBLEMS OF DRIVING IN THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: "We have solutions, but do we have the will?" Speakers and participants at the conference highlighted the impacts of driving on various parts of the natural environment and on the environment as a whole.

Past experiences of authorities responsible under current regulations for supervision in this area and future normative regulation of the discussed issue were presented. At the end, they also presented their views, conclusions and proposals for regulating individual issues.



The goal of the meeting was to revive activities in preparing new regulations on limiting driving in the natural environment and to enrich their content with proposals from non-governmental organizations, as organizers assess it as a typical issue that the state and non-governmental organizations can successfully regulate and implement in practice hand in hand. The conference was chaired by state councillor and president of the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia Cvetko Zupančič.



Representatives of non-governmental and governmental organizations participated in the conference. In the introduction, the attendees were greeted on behalf of the organizers by the president of the Fishing Association of Slovenia Dr. Miroslav Žaberl, the president of the Hunting Association of Slovenia Mag. Srečko Felix Krope and the vice-president of the Alpine Association of Slovenia Tone Jesenko. Presentations by the speakers followed...



Before the conclusion of the conference, a discussion was opened in which Vesna Juran from the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Jože Prah with the presentation of the positions of the Association of Owners of Agricultural Land and Forests, Andreja Slameršek, farm owner where they also encounter the issue of driving with vehicles, Matej Obu, representative of the Slovenian Cycling Network, Jože Rovan, head of the Commission for Touring Cycling of PZS, Darko Lorenčič from Podravje, Mihael Koprivnikar from the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia and Tine Štular from Triglav National Park participated.



CONCLUSIONS of the conference:

Speakers, discussants and participants were unanimous that the issue of driving in the natural environment must be regulated as soon as possible with a standalone law entitled Act on Limiting Vehicle Driving in the Natural Environment. The law must separately regulate driving with motorized vehicles (stricter regulation) and bicycles. The law must include a clear and effective supervision system, with non-governmental organizations proposing inclusion of their members as voluntary environmental inspectors in this supervision. All terminological terms used in the law must be clearly defined. Vehicle registration and rules for motorized vehicle driving must be regulated, and conditions created so that extreme activities are carried out on smaller areas with no or minimal environmental impact; and these areas designated.



The next step lies with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, which is responsible for preparing the draft law. According to Dr. Marija Markeš, head of the Sector for Nature Conservation at the Ministry, work on the law will continue at the ministry in August or September 2013.

Participants were also unanimous that the limitations in the law should represent minimum standards. Laws for specific areas or sectors could prescribe stricter limitations.



While emphasizing the earliest possible adoption of appropriate legal regulation for vehicle driving in the natural environment by the state, they pointed out that for all governmental and non-governmental organizations, the most successful path to changing behaviors is raising awareness among their members and the broader public, especially youth.