Environmental protection

Environmental protection

“Jackal Stone 12” international military exercise shall be conducted in full compliance with the measures and provisions of environmental protection. During the planning of environmental protection measures for the exercise, various environmental organizations that have expressed interest in cooperation have been included.

The exercise involves members of the special forces from 11 countries (besides the U.S. as the chief organizer of the exercise and Croatia as the host country, on the exercise will actively participate the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). All the troops during the exercise will be situated in military facilities and will have a negligible impact on the environment. Furthermore, the staff from all countries that includes military and civilian personnel, vehicles, communications devices and equipment will during the exercise take the appropriate measures to protect nature, environment and cultural heritage.

Unlike traditional military forces, which use large vehicles, special operations forces use smaller vehicles, smaller ships, and work in small teams, which reduces their impact on the environment during operations. The exercise will be carried out entirely outside the residential areas, only in the areas of military facilities, in order to minimize the impact on residents and tourists.

The Republic of Croatia, as a host country, will take all the necessary preliminary measures to ensure the treatment of all types of waste generated during the exercise in accordance with applicable regulations, which includes providing the necessary containers for separate waste collection. Croatia will also provide guidelines for environmental protection in the English language for all participants. In the case of eventual environmental pollution caused by accidents, participating countries are obliged to immediately inform about it to the Operational Command Centre and 112 Centre of the National Protection and Rescue Directorate.

The transportation of hazardous substances and wastes will be handled in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Croatia on procurement, handling and transport of hazardous substances and in accordance with international agreements. In accordance with the regulations of the Republic of Croatia, fire extinguishers will be provided on the area of the exercise execution.

All Croatian legal regulations are applicable to foreign participants, on the basis of agreements and memoranda, and any claims for damages on the areas of exercise will be resolved in accordance with Article VIII of NATO SOFA.

When conducting military exercises on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, Croatian Armed Forces, as well as the armed forces of all participating countries are obliged to respect all the applicable regulations of the host country in connection with environmental protection, with which they are introduced in the process of exercise preparation (Environmental Protection Act (Official Gazette no. 110/07), the Waste Act (Official Gazette no. 178/04 and 111/06), Air Protection Act (Official Gazette no. 178/04), Nature Protection Act (Official Gazette no. 70/05) ) and a number of other laws and regulations from national and international legislation and applicable international agreements. In particular, they are introduced with all the special protection measures that apply to military training grounds in the Republic of Croatia, in addition to the existing NATO standards for preventive protection of the environment (air, soil, water, sea, natural and cultural heritage, flora and fauna …) and to the procedures in case of any emergencies.