Strategic and Spatial Regulation Tools for Harmonizing Land Use Interests in the Carpathians – Experience from Slovakia

Carpathian ecoregion is one of the last strongholds of biodiversity in Europe. The area spreads across several European countries and contains thriving populations of large carnivores and other species, while staying some of the least-fragmented areas in Europe. At the same time, it is under growing pressure to develop its infrastructure endangering this natural uniqueness. In this paper the pressures to develop the area are described in the light of the existing planning policies in Slovakia. We focus on one of the TransGREEN and ConnectGREEN project cross-border pilot areas located between Czech Republic and Slovakia ‘Beskydy-Kysuce’ where we discuss the pressures to develop the infrastructure and the measures to retain the fragmentation as low as possible. The paper discusses Slovak planning policies on national, regional and local levels. In its second part the focus is on examples of development in this pilot area demonstrating the growing pressure for more infrastructure being built improving the transport connection between Slovakia and Czech Republic. The measures to ease the conflicts between the interests of nature protection and green infrastructure, and the interests of developing the grey infrastructure in this area are presented. Lastly, we review the planning policies and tools in the Slovak national spatial planning system aimed at regulating the development considering all interests in the territory and managing this growth while keeping it in the lines of sustainable development, biodiversity protection and enhancing resilience of this area. The aim is to demonstrate in this pilot area the approach of Slovak planning policies and tools in the Slovak national spatial planning system leading to find the way how to anchor the regulation or adaptive measures so as to create a unified strategic framework for the Carpathian region with a set of recommendations to regulate a massive development in this unique area to avoid the conflicts between green and grey infrastructure