Vidoje Stefanović, PhD
Environment Management, Sustainable 
Development and Eco-Tourism of Stara Planina
Scientific article
UDC 338.485.1(497.11)
KEY WORDS: sustainable development, environmen-
tal management, eco-tourism, economic growth, en-
vironment 
ABSTRACT - Sustainable development represents the 
real concept that satisfies demands and needs of the pre-
sent generation, without considering the ability of future 
generations to compensate their own needs. Sustainable 
development includes economic, social, and ecological 
sustainability. Its concept is not against the growth, but 
requires an analysis of the quality of economic growth 
without establishing neither physical nor technical bar-
riers to the production increase. The basic precondition 
for sustainable development is an adequate manage-
ment of all development factors. This of course applies 
to the tourist activity, which is why in recent years, eco-
tourism is largely being mentioned. Using the example 
of Stara Planina, the aim of the authors and the article 
is to show that in practice, the environmental manage-
ment can be successfully implemented through ecoto-
urism in terms of sustainable development. Therefore, 
firstly we talk about sustainable development, then we 
mention the environmental management, and lastly, 
how it applies to the area of Stara Planina.
Znanstveni prispevek
UDK 338.485.1(497.11)
KLJUČNE BESEDE: trajnostni razvoj, okoljski me-
nedžment, ekoturizem, ekonomska rast, okolje
POVZETEK – Trajnostni razvoj predstavlja kon-
cept, ki zadovoljuje zahteve in potrebe sedanjih 
generacij, (ne) glede na zmožnosti prihodnjih ge-
neracij, za kompenzacijo lastnih potreb. Vključuje 
ekonomsko, socialno in ekološko trajnost. Koncept 
ni usmerjen proti razvoju, a vendar zahteva ana-
lizo kakovosti ekonomske rasti, da ne bi vzposta-
vil fizičnih ali tehničnih ovir za rast proizvodnje. 
Osnovni pogoj za trajnostni razvoj je ustrezen 
menedžment vseh razvojnih dejavnikov. Omenjeno 
se seveda nanaša na turizem, kar je tudi razlog za 
to, da se v zadnjih letih nenehno omenja ekoturi-
zem. Cilj avtorja in prispevka je na primeru Stara 
Planina pokazati, da lahko okoljski menedžment 
uspešno izvajamo preko ekoturizma, v smislu traj-
nostnega razvoja. V prispevku najprej govorimo o 
trajnostnem razvoju, nato se navežemo na okoljski 
menedžment in nadaljujemo s primerom aplikacije 
okoljskega menedžmenta na območju Stare Plani-
ne v Republiki Srbiji.
1 Introduction
The core of the sustainable development access can be found in 1854, when the 
Indian chief of the Seattle tribe sent a letter to the president Pierce: “We know this: 
the Earth doesn’t belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. Everything is connected 
like blood that unites the family. What happens on the Earth, happens to the Sons of 
the Earth.” The environmental threat on ecological grounds appeared nearly 200 years 
ago at the beginning of industrialization. At the same time, awareness of the thorou-
ghness of natural resources appeared as well. That is why at the end of the 80s (20th 
century), much was said about sustainable development, as the answer to the emer-
ging crisis. The first attempts to define sustainable development talk about the current 
needs, not questioning the future generations and their needs. Such a change in the 
Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
22 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
structure of global production and consumption depends on the development of global 
and individual conscience of the need to preserve and promote the environment.
2 Sustainable development
Sustainable development has several general assumptions: time dimension, eco-
nomic growth and fair wealth distribution. The conception of sustainable develo-
pment assumes the balanced economic, social and cultural development, without en-
vironmental damage in technological sense, where the future generations will be able 
to develop on the same or higher level. Sustainable development is based on four main 
principles (Milenković, 2010):
 □ environmental sustainability;
 □ socio-cultural sustainability;
 □ economical sustainability;
 □ technological sustainability.
Environmental sustainability ensures that development is compatible with the 
sustainment of ecological processes, biological variability and biological resources. 
Social and cultural sustainability ensures the surveillance increase over the factors im-
plicating one’s life. Economical sustainability ensures that the growth is economically 
successful. Technological sustainability supposes the use of clean technologies in all 
production processes. This is the so-called quadrilateral of sustainability. The specifi-
city of this quadrilateral is that there is minimal likelihood to simultaneous combina-
tion of economic rationality, social justice, ecological balance and clean technology 
(Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002). 
We should also mention the “Agenda 21” which presents the plan of activities 
in all areas connected to sustainable development on Earth. It warns about the need 
for changes in designing development, changes based on the new approach and un-
derstanding man’s influence on the environment. “Agenda 21” was presented on the 
World Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
2.1 Realization of the sustainable development concept
Realization of the sustainable development concept is a very complex issue. Here 
we can find pretty ambitious demands. These demands range in a triangle: natural 
resources - economic growth - ecology. In the literature we can find many approaches 
in achieving sustainable development. Some of them are:
 □ maintaining the current spending volume,
 □ Keeping inventories of natural resources at the inception level,
 □ defining minimum security standards,
 □ application of the basic ecological principles.
The sustainable development concept imposes the need of transferring from tradi-
tional to ecological economy. But this transfer will not be easy, fast, or simple. Some 
of the analyses show that we must consider about 500 billion USD costs. Besides that, 
23Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
one should expect the resistance to keep the current state and the privileges in earning 
enormous profit, not paying any attention to ecology (Milenović, 2000).
One of the ground causes of the sustainable concept is, certainly, the promotion of 
the environment quality. By this, we mean: clean air, healthy water, unpolluted soil. 
Preservation of healthy environment is the priority issue of the modern human society. 
Today, the world is faced with many environmental problems of planetary significan-
ce. Some of these deserve special attention: 
 □ “ozone holes” – damage to the ozone layer that protects living things on Earth 
from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun;
 □ “greenhouse gases” – steady warming that could lead to warming of eternal snow 
and ice, and thus to the increase of the water level in seas and oceans;
 □ “cutting down the Amazon forest” – considered to be the lungs of the planet, and 
it directly threatens the climate of the Earth;
 □ “pollution increase” – as a result of rapid economic development, etc.
In this sense, at all levels - local, regional and global – we are taking appropriate 
measures to preserve and improve the health of environment. Every state in the fra-
mework of its legal system, laws and other legal norms should be regulating this area in 
details. At the end of 2004, the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Environmental 
Protection, which regulates the integrated system of environmental protection. 
3 Environmental management
It is known that, until recently, the main preoccupation of the policy of economic 
development focused on the economics of business. Everything was subordinated to 
economy of scale, i.e. increasing the production and profits. Ecology itself was not 
a problem, especially as a segment of economic growth. Amongst other, economic 
growth was decreasing the quality of the environment. Conflicted relations between 
the economy and ecology became more active.
It is possible to overcome the conflicts between the economy and ecology by stic-
king to the sustainable development concept. Future economic development should be 
based on (Štrbac, 2007): 
 □ rational use of the nature resources,
 □ wider substitution of the primary resources,
 □ recycling of the secondary resources,
 □ preserving and improving the environment quality.
Today, it is clear that economic growth is ruining the environment. All this is 
telling us that the use of natural resources as well as preserving and keeping the qu-
ality of the environment should gain a totally different status. As Gojko Rikalović 
emphasizes (1999): “Saving and final care of resources in a broader sense, integrated 
environmental protection as well as overcoming the technological differences, must 
be considered as a part of production activities. This primarily means that a significant 
part of the GDP should be invested into the resources use, waste avoidance, reuse and 
24 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
final disposal. What the nature did with resources for free, the man should do with the 
help of the economy, with the appropriate expenditure of knowledge, time and resou-
rces.” In this way, environmental protection, in addition to capital and labor, becomes 
equal element of work. These environmental costs are included in costs of products 
and sale prices. On the other hand, a portion the revenues is put aside to cover all the 
expenses. However, this process is neither easy nor simple, and some resistance of the 
participants who create and distribute profits should probably be expected. Everybody 
wants to preserve the status quo, since the division of the nature makes it less availa-
ble. However, environmental problems mainly arise due to the economic growth. In 
doing so, we should expect the increase in national income and the ability to meet the 
requirements of all participants in the process of economy and course of nature. In 
other words, steady economic growth causes the reduction of natural resources and 
environmental friendliness, but it will allow the creation of a larger national income 
and profits, and thus the greater possibility of allocating funds to repair the damage 
caused to nature by that growth.
Nonetheless, if the economic growth provides funds for repairing the damage ca-
used to nature, then the questioning of such growth is justified. If used for removing 
defects in nature rather than the general welfare of society, is such growth actually 
needed? In this case, it is a phenomenon of the so-called “idle”. We might say that 
such economic growth is not necessary, especially if compounded by national income, 
since it is not able to cover the resulting damage to nature. All this suggests that whi-
le boundary “idle” is not reached, economic growth has (admittedly limited) sense, 
which means that there remains some productive use of resources (if you maintain a 
prescribed minimum of environmental standards).
Secondly, such an increase, however, is limited, and this limits the “downtime”. 
When this limit is exceeded, either it has to stop development, or abandon the preser-
vation of minimum environmental standards. Otherwise, the standard of living would 
be constantly decreasing. It should be added that in reality, however, there is a boun-
dary “idle” for many of them related to different environmental loads with different 
time horizons (some have already been exceeded, and others not).
Thirdly, the boundary “idle” depends on how you are connected to the economic 
growth and consumption of resources, as well as the effectiveness of environmental 
protection (Filipović, 2006).
Marketing and management have specific duties and responsibilities in resolving 
conflict relationship between the economy and ecology. Managers are active partici-
pants in business activities that cause antagonistic relations.
In order to overcome the conflict relationship, management must have an active 
relationship with nature and the natural environment. This means that in the course of 
commercial activities it must take into account (Nikolić, 2010):
 □ saving and rational use of natural resources, 
 □ reduction of environmental pollution, 
 □ recycling, 
 □ substituting the primary resources, etc.
25Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
Orientation should be towards the production of healthy food, organic product 
packaging, and similar. Basically, these are vital determinants of contemporary ma-
nagement - environmental management. Environmental management is a kind of link 
between the ecological and conventional management (Pokrajac, 2002). 
“If we understand human ecology as the science of survival, management skills 
and organizational management systems as the set targets, and if we accept the exis-
tence of man as the ultimate goal of all human systems on this planet, environmental 
management can be defined as management of the objectives for survival by managing 
risks that threaten this survival. Environmental management is present at all levels of 
the government - on a personal level, at the level of the family (or household), at the 
company level (and other economic entities), at the level of regional international 
multilateral institutions.”
In each of these cases, environmental management must be treated as a condition 
of survival and development options. At the state level, it is controlled by the general 
environmental risks in order to achieve the proclaimed social environmental objecti-
ves. Environmental management in economic terms has the task of contributing to 
realization of the objectives of company business activities and how management of 
business risks, arising from environmental, social and ecological market demands, 
and use of business, seems to be on the market by focusing on green products and 
services, as well as the activities of the field of protection and improvement of living 
and working environment.
In the field of natural resource use, the management should adhere to the fol-
lowing rules: 
 □ For renewable resources, the degree of endurance needs to comply with the level 
of regeneration (cutting forests to weight gain of timber). Most preferably, the 
condition is achieved when the level of regeneration (regeneration) is greater than 
the volume of the reduction of resources. Otherwise, if such a condition is present 
in longer time limits, renewable resources for the permanent reduction of their 
masses become non-renewable. 
 □ Non-renewable resources must be used in an extremely rational way, i.e. qua-
si-sustainable manner; at that, their utilization should align with the growth of 
renewable resources, the possibility of substitution, recycling and others. 
 □ The emission of contaminants should not be greater than the relevant assimilative 
capacity of the ecosystem.
 □ Also, in order to complete the implementation of the concept of sustainable deve-
lopment, companies should recognize the dark green attitude based on the settings 
of “deep ecology”.
Environmental challenges necessitate that management must create what it is do-
ing to respond to signals from the environment in terms of new relationships and new 
horizons from beginning to the end. In the modern world economy many companies 
survive because they are able to predict and intelligently respond to external factors. 
Their managers are “built” a new feeling and instinct to make decisions, and develop 
new relationships, often with groups that until recently did not exist. For managers, 
26 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
life becomes more complicated - they need to understand the importance of respecting 
the environment and incorporate the environmental criteria to their decision-making 
(for example, the composition of the product design, packaging, etc.).
Managers have the specific responsibilities with regard to application of the 
appropriate standards. Specifically, in their business activities, in addition to the qu-
ality standard ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, they should also apply standards relating to 
environmental protection. The application of these standards is to reduce the harmful 
effects on the environment. Specifically, the standards are based on ISO 14000 for 
environmental management.
Similarly, a conflict of objectives is reflected between ecology and marketing. The 
reconciliation of these opposites is achieved by environmental marketing. This “new” 
marketing is based on profitable and ecological aspect of business. It is expressed by 
(Goodstein, 2005): 
 □ orientation to food production, 
 □ environmental (green) packaging, 
 □ environmental promotions, 
 □ collection and recycling of waste and trash.
Basically, the marketing orientation of modern enterprise business imposes the 
need to respect the environmental components. Sustainable economy, sustainable 
energy use, sustainable production technologies and sustainable marketing are called 
determinants of sustainable economic growth. The new evolution of environmental 
factors, changing behavior and changing consumption patterns are the main thrust of 
the principles whose implementation must engage sustainable marketing inevitably. 
The classic marketing approach of the past, and the new, so-called “green marketing”, 
confirms the area of improving the quality of the physical environment and the impact 
of market changes caused by environmental factors.
New functions of marketing are, therefore, to support the concept of sustainable 
development and the creation of market relations that encourage meeting the needs of 
consumers, who are not in conflict with environmental requirements, consumer prefe-
rences, or harmful to the environment. The environmental component is present in all 
instruments - from production, packing and packaging, distribution and positioning, 
the promotion system. As such, it leads to a new marketing mix, custom contemporary 
conditions, the principles of market economy and environment.
3.1 The necessity of occurrence and application of environmental management
All of the above contributed to the most recently conceptualized environmental 
management as a science, and management skills to different levels of organizational 
systems (companies, countries, etc.) by controlling environmental risks endangering 
survival of the system. It is understood that, because the main objective of the envi-
ronmental management system is organizational survival (always composed, among 
other elements, by people), the defined management is not only to achieve things 
(goals) with people, but above all achieving things for people. 
27Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
Environmental management is entirely anthropocentric concept of corporate go-
vernance, as it is significantly different from all other management approaches and 
systems. Also, it is not just about some standard science and skills, effective and effi-
cient behavior and achieving goals in the right way, but the true knowledge and pra-
ctice to achieve the objectives, i.e. those related to man’s survival and quality of life. 
Management has not yet so powerfully and convincingly confirmed the dominance of 
the principle of the effectiveness in any field of application, and it is not possible that 
the lack of effectiveness is a result of the poor management, therefore inhuman and se-
lected non-ecological goals replace even the most efficient. In this sense, environmental 
management can (and must in the future) become a kind of infrastructure management 
pilot test performance of each management practice, without exception. We believe that 
environmental management now exceeds all practices of business and public admini-
stration and that it is turning into a kind of meta management (Callan, 2006).
Introducing international standards for environmental management (ISO 14000 
series) will undoubtedly contribute to the global process. Their main role is to provide 
unique guidance on environmental policy, to define strategic and operational objecti-
ves, to evaluate the environmental effects, to establish ways of internal and external 
audits, to establish the principles of communication and define responsibilities for 
training, etc.
In this sense, the standard of environmental management systems represents a 
further elaboration and concretization of the famous Charter for Sustainable Deve-
lopment (Business Charter for Sustainable Development), which was adopted by the 
International Chamber of Commerce in 1991 (Pokrajac, 2002). It proclaimed that the 
key determinant of environmental management and sustainable development was to 
be a priority task of the company, that ecology must be integrated into the company’s 
management and its improvement should be a continuous process; that an assessment 
of the environmental impact must be made for each new process and product, that the 
company must take responsibility for the behavior of their subcontractors and suppli-
ers, as well as to foster openness and dialogue about environmental risks, and engaged 
in joint efforts to promote environmental awareness as well as in regular informing 
of all concerned. The very next year, the UN Conference on Environment was held in 
Rio de Janeiro, which adopted the famous “Agenda 21”. This document, more specifi-
cally elaborates the principles for strengthening the role of enterprises in environmen-
tal protection. Also, busy explicit attitude to environmental management must be a 
priority of every company. That same year, the UK adopted the first environmental 
standard, and then followed, particularly in the European Union, an intense activity on 
the operationalization of environmental management. These concepts integrate mul-
tiple dimensions of human presence in the organization of work that has to optimize 
multiple objectives: economic, ergonomic, energy, environmental and others.
For the successful implementation of environmental management standards, it is 
useful to classify the most common environmental risk factors in business. There is 
a group called endogenous risk that a company can actively influence, and manage 
its formation, dynamics and intensity of its appearance. On the other hand, there is a 
28 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
group called exogenous risks, originating from the external environment and the com-
pany, and primarily includes environmental characteristics of the location of compani-
es (climate, terrain, topography, etc.), demographic environment (population density, 
population age structure, etc.), infrastructure (roads, telecommunications, etc.), level 
of education of the population, level of development of environmental awareness and 
cultural attitudes of political parties on environmental issues, legal solution of envi-
ronmental problems, etc. The interlocking effects of these two groups of environmen-
tal risks and potential intensity (small, large) of their appearance, gives us four basic 
types of environmental policy as management company responses to real environmen-
tal challenges. These are the following policies:
 □ pro-active in response to small exogenous and major endogenous environmental 
risks; 
 □ strategic, which is a possible answer to the situation with businesses of major en-
dogenous and exogenous environmental risk; 
 □ reactive, which offers a solution for the situation in which small exogenous and 
endogenous environmental risk prevail, and 
 □ crisis-prevention, that offers solutions to the situation in which major exogenous 
and small endogenous environmental risks prevail.
The advantages of environmental management for the design of proper envi-
ronmental policies of companies lie primarily in the fact that the company has to exer-
cise maximum responsibility in the use of all available resources, especially human 
and natural (Stefanović, 2007). Of course, one must also take into consideration the 
requirements of their customers, especially customers, whose requirements are not 
only economic (pricing, credit, service, after-sales, etc.) or technical (reliability, fun-
ctionality, durability, etc.), but also environmentally friendly, which means that they 
are directly a function of optimization of the quality of life. The performance criteria of 
companies must be designed exclusively in the long run, because it just gets in the way 
of reliable picture of the severity of each entrepreneurial movers and actors venture.
The state in turn can and must, in order to protect the vital interests of its citizens, 
prescribe appropriate standards and norms of behavior that will be mandatory for all 
businesses; however, the best option for the state would be when only the small en-
terprises would build an ecological approach in the content of their organizational 
culture. Fortunately, it is happening increasingly, but we are still far from satisfactory. 
This plan is yet to expect some significant changes.
A number of environmental incidents occurring around the world, despite (or per-
haps because of) high technology, dramatically warns all aspects of economic life 
that any failure of multiple ecological approach might increase the price. The most 
expensive, of course, is compromised health (pollution of water, air, soil, genetically 
modified food, “mad cow”, “wild boar”, etc.), fear and a sense that our living space is 
slipping away beneath our feet. Or, as the National Experience says “down hard and 
high up”.
29Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
4 Implementation of tourism management – example of Stara Planina
In the region of Stara Planina there are more and more successful attempts to con-
nect sustainable development and ecological management through the proclaiming 
of eco-tourism. Some of the basic characteristics that are connected with the term 
eco-tourism and accommodation offered to the eco tourists are: natural environment, 
simple accommodation, strict adherence to environment including the limited number 
of visitors. The visitor who wishes this kind of vacation expects untransformed envi-
ronment and, in a way, the experience of merging with nature.
This is why in the management of nature resources of Stara Planina there are 
intensive activities which will protect the tourist values of this area, and could be de-
vastated by the tourists’ disregard. There are certain measures of the communities, like 
education of the local population. All this contributes to the realization of the concept 
and principles of sustainable development.
4.1 Eco tourism – necessity or style
Ecotourism originated from the idea of saving the nature with the help of tourism, 
since this activity can raise large amounts of capital, and is based on the exploitation 
of natural resources. In a short while, this became a mega hit.
The term ecotourism originates from Héctor Ceballos-Lascurén, a Mexican archi-
tect, ecologist and international tourism consultant. His definition of ecotourism was 
officially adopted by the WCN (the World Conservation Union) on the first congress 
held in Montreal in 1996: “Ecotourism is an ecologically responsible journey and visit 
to relatively preserved areas for enjoying nature (and accompanying cultural features 
– from the past as well as the present), by improving the nature preservation, with 
small negative influences of the visitors and useful influence on local population” 
(www.ekoplan.gov.rs/src/Ekoturizam-308-c52-content.htm).
In general, ecotourism is defined as (Risantijević, 2011): “Purposeful journey for 
the cause of meeting the culture, flora and fauna of a certain area, taking into account 
that the ecosystem of the area remains intact, at the same time giving the chance to 
make profit useful for the locals to preserve natural resources.”
Ecotourism refers to environmentally responsible travel and visits to relatively 
undisturbed natural areas, improves ecological education, management, preserving 
the existing values, while ensuring socio-economic involvement of local population, 
and lowering the influence that mass tourism has on the environment. Visitors call 
themselves ecotourists. 
Every tourist destination that intends to attract this kind of visitors has to protect 
its resources with the accentuation on the feeling of integration with the local commu-
nity. The state has a very important role in this process, because it is responsible for 
planning, creating and designing the policy and preventing excessive and improper 
construction. Only then we can talk about the concept of ecodestination. For this re-
latively new term there are no precise instructions. Planning and managing the desti-
30 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
nation must be accompanied by the visitor management, which leads to an increased 
share of tourists as well as raising their awareness regarding the protection of natural 
and cultural features of the area in which they reside.
However, the practice is far from what is written on the paper. Promotion of na-
tural beauties really is a lucrative business. Ecotourism is considered to be a market 
that is growing intensively and relating to the tourism as an economic activity. In a 
few countries, ecotourism provides the largest influx of foreign money. In Costa Rica, 
tourism is more profitable than export of bananas, in Tanzania and Kenya more profi-
table than coffee export, in India more profitable than textile and jewelry export. It is 
estimated that in Kenya only one lion in tourism brings about 5000 EUR of income per 
year, whilst a herd of elephants “makes” around 460,000 EUR. Thanks to ecotourism, 
Hawaiian coral reef “makes” around 270 million EUR per year. Ecotourism is one of 
the main factors contributing to the preservation of the island Galapagos.
Economists estimate that the ecotourism’s annual income share is around 1/3, 
which is equal to around 1 billion EUR. According to the data of World Tourist Orga-
nization, ecotourism market deserves special attention with the annual growth of 5% 
globally, which presents 6% of the world’s BTO, as also 11,4% of consumption.
All in all, ecotourism presents nothing more than the triumph of entrepreneurial 
initiative over the common sense, thanks to the fact that most of the people think that 
ecotourism presents just a new way of business in tourism, and therefore has only 
one objective: making profit. True ecotourism characterizes duality of goals, which is 
making profit and protection and environmental improvement.
4.2 Ecotourism on Stara Planina
The first activities of environment protection on Stara Planina began in 1966, in 
motion and the grounds of the Institute for Nature Conservation, when the first pro-
tected natural item was the group named “Small borders trees”. These activities con-
tinued through the 80s of the 20th century, when a few more natural resources were 
put under protection. In the municipalities Knjaževac and Pirot, seven special nature 
reserves and three natural monuments were declared. The total area of all protected 
natural resources was 316 hectares. These were individual parts of Stara Planina, whi-
ch were placed under protection.
Ten years later, in 1997, upon the suggestion of the Institute for Nature Conser-
vation of Serbia, the Serbian government adopted the Regulation on the Protection 
of Nature Park “Stara Planina” (“Official Gazette RS”, No. 19/1997) by which Stara 
Planina was put under protection as a natural item of great importance, and classified 
into the first category of protection. It was declared as the Nature Park in 1997, with 
the total area of 142,219.64 hectares.
Pursuant to the Declaration of a Bilateral Peace Park Stara Planina between the 
Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Bulgaria (Official Gazette RS, No. 54/1996), 
a new research started in 1998, to adapt the existing concepts of protecting the bio-
sphere reserve. They came to the conclusion that they must re-examine the existing 
protection measures, amend and supplement them, and determine the new boundaries 
31Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
of the protected natural resource, as well as to determine the levels of protection. 
Therefore, in 2003, a study of the Nature Park was created. Based on these activities, 
plan documentation was created, and in 2005, the Spatial Plan of the Nature Park area 
and the tourist region of Stara Planina: The Strategy of Protection, Development and 
Planning was designed.
With harmonizing these two documents, a document of the protection regime was 
created: I, II and III degree, which provides nature preservation optimum, of the future 
preserve “Man and the Biosphere“ (UNESCO-MAB). All these activities contributed 
to the tourist and economic development across the region (Biodiversity of Stara Pla-
nina in Serbia, 2007). Because of this, the total area of the Nature Park Stara Planina, 
was reduced to 114,332 ha.
Inside this complex there are three zones of protection:
 □ Zone I: area around 4,160 ha, around 3.65% of total protected area;
 □ Zone II: area around 19,679 ha, around 17.21% of total protected area;
 □ Zone III: area around 90,493 ha, around 79.15% of total protected area.
Precondition for ecotourism is preserved nature, and Stara Planina as a Nature 
Park presents a genuine potential source for developing of ecotourism. Natural valu-
es on Stara Planina are the base of ecotourism development, but there are numerous 
anthropogenic values. The turbulent history of the area left the grounds of anthro-
pogenic features of Stara Planina, which can be pretty interesting for tourists. Tou-
rist values, such as cultural and historical monuments, manifestations, environmental 
entities and complexes, along with natural values only supplement tourist potential 
of the mountain. Of the various forms of tourism in the area of Stara Planina, winter 
sports - recreation are affirmed. The share of other types of tourism in total tourism 
turnover is negligible. The organization of ecotourism is a special segment that should 
be analysed.
Stara Planina, with its various geomorphologic features makes a unique complex 
of ecosystems which provides favorable conditions for high biological diversity. Po-
sition, direction (Midžor, 2,169 m, the highest peak of East Serbia) and geological 
history brought to today’s development of flora and fauna which, not only in Serbia, 
has one of the largest indexes of qualitative diversity. This richness of diversity and its 
distributions is the result of mutual interlocking of the complex conditions of life and 
zoogeographical position of Stara Planina.
The area of Natural Park Stara Planina is characterized by a pronounced vertical 
alternation of vegetation, and vegetation is presented by varied and numerous associa-
tions. The research that was carried out by the Institute for Nature Protection of Serbia 
found out that floristically, Stara Planina is one of the wealthiest areas of Serbia, since 
24.5% of the plant species of the total number of flora of Serbia grow there. 
The area of Stara Planina represents the four biomes within whose habitat is di-
verse fauna that accompanies vertical zonation, and is reflected through the wealth: 
butterfly fauna, there are 116 butterfly species of which 22 are newly established and 
six species representing glacial relicts; herpetofauna, because of the 46 species as it is 
32 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
supposed to inhabit the territory of Serbia, was found 18 species of herpetofauna, of 
which 6 species belong to the class of amphibians and 12 species of reptiles class; fish 
fauna, represented by 26 species, especially the whole area of Stara Planina represents 
salmonid region; bird fauna, represented by 203 species, the highest diversity of bird 
fauna on any mountain Serbia, the former Yugoslavia and much of the Balkans.
This kind of geological, vegetation, flora and fauna biodiversity represents poten-
tial wealth which could be valorized through ecotourism and sustainable economic 
growth of this area. Analyzing tourist potentials of Stara Planina, one can conclude 
that there are some, but not enough or not at all used in tourist purposes.
Many medieval objects make anthropogenic value of Stara Planina high. Many 
churches, monasteries, mills and fortresses present attractive monuments of spiritual 
heritage and tradition. Villages on Stara Planina are intact areas and are not occupied 
with industry, nor with its negative influences on nature. It certainly creates a benefit 
for future activities to be undertaken in re-activating practically abandoned natural 
resources and intensifying them.
Also, one should highlight the importance of agricultural resources, which have 
already made their own “image”, on domestic and international market through their 
cheese and lamb meat, and also we have internationally known rugs from Pirot. These 
significant ethnographic tourist values should be emphasized, asserted and an advan-
tage for the presentation of this area.
5 Conclusion
Through the concept of sustainable development, we can come to the so needed 
symbiosis of the key categories and criteria of economy and ecology, because they are 
both facing the development goals of more and more people. This means maintaining 
the sustainable development capacity of the Earth, allowing life to its unborn inhabi-
tants. Environmental management is the best way to achieve the latter.
Modern society should be wise to weigh each decision, because Stara Planina as a 
protected natural area certainly deserve that. In the future, the effects of society deve-
lopment will be measured only through the preservation of the environment, compli-
ance of natural activities, economy and the continuum still going. It may be assumed 
that all the people who take care of Stara Planina realized on time that nature wealth 
should be preserved through the implementation of environmental management on 
the principles of ecotourism, thus contributing to sustainable development of the area. 
Natural resources, insufficient use of significant resources and a lack of evaluation 
performed, give us a strong vision for the development of ecotourism of Stara Plani-
na. Nature protection and plans for further development of the area of Stara Planina, 
the Republic of Serbia strives to foster and to direct the present and future residents 
to persevere in the efforts that are reflected through: improving living standards, the 
possibility of investments, the development of ecotourism, information of interested 
33Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
visitors, developing awareness of the richness and importance of this area, willingness 
to cooperate at the international level and developing a distinctive and recognizable 
European region.
Dr. Vidoje Stefanović 
Okoljski menedžment, trajnostni razvoj in ekoturizem na Stari Planini 
Že pred 200 leti, na začetku industrializacije, se je pojavilo ogrožanje okolja, 
hkrati pa se je pojavila tudi zavest o pomenu naravnih virov. Prvi poskusi definiranja 
trajnostnega razvoja se nanašajo na aktualne potrebe in ne upoštevajo prihodnjih 
generacij in njihovih potreb. Takšna sprememba v strukturi globalne proizvodnje in 
potrošnje je odvisna od razvoja globalne in posameznikove zavesti o potrebi po ohra-
njanju in promociji varovanja okolja.
Koncept trajnostnega razvoja predvideva uravnotežen gospodarski, socialni in 
kulturni razvoj, brez škode za okolje s tehnološkega vidika, da se bodo lahko prihodnje 
generacije razvijale na enaki ali višji ravni (Milenković, 2010). Okoljska trajnost za-
gotavlja, da je razvoj združljiv z obstojnostjo ekoloških procesov, biološke raznolikosti 
in bioloških virov; socialna in kulturna trajnost zagotavlja povečanje nadzora nad de-
javniki, ki vplivajo na posameznikovo življenje; ekonomska trajnost zagotavlja, da je 
rast ekonomsko uspešna; tehnološka trajnost pa predpostavlja uporabo čistih tehno-
logij v vseh proizvodnih procesih. Govorimo o t. i. štirikotniku trajnostnega razvoja. 
Eden od osnovnih razlogov za oblikovanje koncepta trajnostnega razvoja je ned-
vomno spodbujanje kakovosti okolja. S tem imamo v mislih: čist zrak, neoporečno 
vodo in neonesnaženo zemljo. Ohranjanje zdravega okolja je za sodobno človeško 
družbo prednostno in v tem smislu je treba na vseh ravneh - lokalno, regionalno in 
globalno - sprejemati primerne ukrepe za ohranjanje in izboljšanje obstoječega oko-
lja. Vsaka država bi morala v okviru svojega pravnega sistema, zakonodaje in ostalih 
pravnih norm detajlno urediti omenjeno področje. Republika Srbija je konec leta 2004 
sprejela Zakon o varstvu okolja, ki ureja integriran sistem varstva okolja.
V današnjem času ekonomska rast zagotovo pomeni tudi uničevanje okolja. Iz 
navedenega je razvidno, da bi morala raba naravnih virov in ohranjanje kakovosti 
okolja dobiti povsem drugačen status. Kot poudarja Rikalović (1999): »Ohranjanje 
in končna oskrba virov v širšem smislu, celostno varovanje okolja in premostitev teh-
noloških razlik je treba obravnavati kot del proizvodnih dejavnosti, kar pomeni, da 
je znaten del BDP treba investirati v uporabo virov in ravnanje z odpadki. Za kar je 
narava poskrbela z zastonj viri, bi moral človek poskrbeti s pomočjo ekonomije, z 
ustreznimi izdatki znanja, časa in sredstev.« Na ta način lahko postane varstvo okolja 
skupaj s kapitalom in delovno silo enakovreden element dela. 
34 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
Marketing in menedžment imata določene naloge in odgovornost pri reševanju 
konfliktnega odnosa med ekonomijo in ekologijo, saj so menedžerji aktivni udeleženci 
poslovnih dejavnosti, ki povzročajo antagonistična razmerja.
Da bi premostili omenjeni konfliktni odnos, mora imeti menedžment aktiven odnos 
do narave in naravnega okolja, kar pomeni, da se mora v okviru tržnih dejavnosti 
upoštevati (Nikolić, 2010): varčevanje in racionalna raba naravnih virov, zmanjšanje 
onesnaževanja okolja, recikliranje, zamenjava primarnih virov itd.
Menedžment pa mora biti usmerjen v proizvodnjo zdrave hrane, ekoloških pro-
izvodov, embalaže in podobno. To so pomembni dejavniki sodobnega menedžmenta 
- okoljskega menedžmenta, ki je neke vrste povezava med ekološkim in tradicionalnim 
menedžmentom (Pokrajac, 2002).
Na področju uporabe naravnih virov mora menedžment upoštevati naslednja pra-
vila: (1) Za obnovljive vire je treba stopnjo izkoriščanja prilagoditi stopnji regene-
racije (redčenje gozda za povečanje mase lesa). Najbolj zaželeno je, da je stopnja 
regeneracije višja od stopnje izkoriščanja virov. Obratno namreč v daljšem časovnem 
obdobju povzroči, da obnovljivi viri zaradi trajnega zmanjševanja postanejo neobno-
vljivi., (2) Neobnovljive vire je treba uporabljati na izjemno racionalen način, torej 
kvazi-trajnosten način; pri tem bi se njihova poraba morala uskladiti z rastjo obno-
vljivih virov, z možnostjo zamenjave, recikliranja itd., (3) Emisije onesnaževalcev ne 
smejo biti večje od ustrezne zmogljivosti ekosistema., (4) Prav tako bi morala podje-
tja, da bi upoštevala zahteve trajnostnega razvoja, ki temelji na značilnostih »globoke 
ekologije«. Okoljski izzivi zahtevajo, da se menedžment odzove na signale iz okolja. 
Na podoben način se kaže tudi konflikt med ekologijo in marketingom. Uskla-
jevanje omenjenih nasprotij se lahko doseže z okoljskim marketingom, ki temelji na 
dobičkonosnem in ekološkem vidiku poslovanja. Izraža se preko (Goodstein, 2005): 
usmerjenosti k proizvodnji hrane, okolju prijazne (zelene) embalaže, promocij varo-
vanja okolja in zbiranja ter recikliranja odpadkov in smeti.
Tržna naravnanost sodobnega podjetja narekuje potrebo po spoštovanju sesta-
vin okolja. Nove funkcije marketinga so zato podpiranje načrta trajnostnega razvoja 
in vzpostavitev tržnih odnosov, ki spodbujajo zadovoljevanje potreb potrošnikov in 
niso v nasprotju z okoljskimi zahtevami, zahtevami potrošnikov ali škodljive za okolje. 
Omenjeno je prispevalo k nedavno razvitemu konceptu okoljskega menedžmenta kot 
vede in k razvoju menedžerskih spretnosti na različnih stopnjah organizacijskih siste-
mov (podjetja, države itd.), da nadzorujeta okoljska tveganja, ki ogrožajo preživetje 
sistema. Glavni cilj ustreznega ravnanja z okoljem je organizacijsko preživetje (kjer 
so vedno prisotni ljudje). Okoljski menedžment je v celoti antropocentrični koncept 
korporativnega upravljanja, saj se bistveno razlikuje od ostalih načinov upravljanja. 
Prav tako ne gre le za nekatere standardne znanosti in spretnosti, učinkovito in uspeš-
no delovanje in doseganje ciljev na pravilen način, ampak gre za dejansko znanje in 
prakso za doseganje ciljev, ki so povezani s preživetjem ljudi in kakovostjo življenja. 
Prednosti upravljanja z okoljem za oblikovanje ustrezne okoljske politike podjetja 
so predvsem v dejstvu, da morajo podjetja izkazovati največjo odgovornost pri upora-
35Vidoje Stefanović, PhD: Environment Management, Sustainable Development ...
bi vseh razpoložljivih virov, zlasti človeških in naravnih (Stefanović, 2007). Država v 
zameno lahko in mora, če želi zaščititi vitalne interese svojih državljanov, predpisati 
ustrezne standarde in norme vedênja, ki bodo obvezni za vsa podjetja; vendar je treba 
dodati, da bi bilo za državo najbolje, če bi zgolj majhna podjetja uporabila ekološki 
pristop v svoji organizacijski kulturi. K sreči so ekološki pristopi vedno pogostejši, a 
smo še vedno daleč od zadovoljivega stanja na tem področju in pričakujemo kar nekaj 
pomembnih sprememb.
V regiji Stara Planina je vedno več uspešnih poskusov povezovanja trajnostne-
ga razvoja in ekološkega menedžmenta v obliki ekološkega turizma. Obiskovalci se 
imenujejo ekoturisti. Nekaj osnovnih značilnosti, ki so povezane z izrazom ekološki 
turizem in namestitvami za t.i. ekoturiste: naravno okolje, preproste namestitve ter 
strogo spoštovanje okolja, vključno z omejevanjem števila obiskovalcev. Ekoturizem 
izvira iz ideje o varovanju narave s pomočjo turizma, saj lahko ta dejavnost pripomore 
k dvigu kapitala, hkrati pa temelji na izkoriščanju naravnih virov. V kratkem času je 
ekoturizem postal velik hit. Nanaša se na okoljsko odgovorna potovanja in obiske re-
lativno neokrnjenih naravnih območij, izboljšuje ekološko ozaveščenost, menedžment, 
ohranjanje obstoječe vrednosti, istočasno pa zagotavlja socialno-ekonomsko vključe-
vanje lokalnega prebivalstva in zmanjšuje vpliv masovnega turizma na okolje. Vsaka 
turistična destinacija, ki želi privabiti tovrstne obiskovalce, mora zaščititi svoje vire, 
s poudarkom na integraciji z lokalno skupnostjo. V tem procesu ima zelo pomembno 
vlogo država, saj je odgovorna za načrtovanje, ustvarjanje in snovanje politike ter 
preprečevanje pretirane ali neustrezne gradnje. Šele ko zadostimo tem pogojem, lah-
ko govorimo o ekodestinaciji. Na žalost pa se na ekoturizem gleda kot na trg, ki se 
intenzivno veča in se nanaša na turizem kot gospodarsko dejavnost. V določenih dr-
žavah ekoturizem celo zagotavlja največji pritok tujega kapitala. Gledano v celoti, 
ekoturizem predstavlja zmagoslavje podjetniške iniciative nad zdravo pametjo, zah-
valjujoč dejstvu, da večina ljudi misli, da ekoturizem pomeni le nov način poslovanja 
v turizmu in zato ima zgolj en cilj: ustvarjanje dobička. Pravi ekoturizem se ponaša z 
dvojnim ciljem: z ustvarjanjem dobička ter varovanjem in izboljšanjem okolja. Pogoj 
za ekoturizem je neokrnjena narava, zato Stara Planina kot naravni park predstavlja 
pravi potencialni vir za razvoj ekoturizma. Turistične vrednote, kot so kulturni in zgo-
dovinski spomeniki, manifestacije, okoljske enote in kompleksi, skupaj z naravnimi 
vrednotami dopolnjujejo turistični potencial Stare Planine. Če analiziramo turistične 
potenciale Stare Planine, ugotovimo, da ti obstajajo, vendar niso dovolj ali sploh 
uporabljeni v turistične namene. Skozi koncept trajnostnega razvoja lahko pridemo 
do tako potrebne simbioze ključnih kategorij in meril za ekonomijo in ekologijo, saj 
se obe soočata z razvojnimi cilji vedno več ljudi. Sodobna družba bi morala pametno 
pretehtati vsakršno odločitev, saj si Stara Planina kot zaščiteno naravno območje to 
zasluži. V prihodnje bo treba učinke družbenega razvoja vrednotiti skozi ohranja-
nje okolja, preko skladnosti naravnih aktivnosti in ekonomije, kontinuirano in sproti. 
Sklepamo lahko, da so ljudje, ki skrbijo za Staro Planino, še pravočasno spoznali, da 
je treba naravna bogastva ohranjati s pomočjo okoljskega menedžmenta po načelih 
ekoturizma, saj s tem pripomoremo k trajnostnem razvoju območja. Republika Srbija 
si v zvezi z varovanjem narave in načrtovanjem nadaljnjega razvoja območja Stare 
36 Revija za ekonomske in poslovne vede (1, 2017)
Planine prizadeva za pospeševanje in usmerjanje sedanjih in prihodnjih prebivalcev 
k vztrajanju pri prizadevanjih, ki se izražajo skozi izboljšanje življenjskih standardov, 
možnosti naložb, razvoj ekoturizma, obveščanje zainteresiranih obiskovalcev, razvoj 
ozaveščenosti o bogastvu in pomembnosti tega področja, pripravljenost za sodelova-
nje na mednarodni ravni in skozi razvoj izrazite ter prepoznavne evropske regije.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The paper is a part of the project 179013 – Sustainability of the identity of Serbs and national 
minorities in border municipalities of the East and South-East Serbia, financed by the Ministry of Sci-
ences of Serbia.
Vidoje Stefanović, PhD, Full Professor at the University of Niš, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics.
E-mail: widojes@yahoo.com