Lonjsko Polje is the largest protected wetland in both Croatia and the entire Danube basin.
It covers an area of 505.6 square kilometres (195.2 sq mi), extending along the river Sava from the areas east of Sisak, the lower course of the river Lonja for which it is named, to the areas west of Nova Gradiška, along the course of the river Veliki Strug.
Lonjsko polje Nature Park, as a wetland area, is one of the most endangered habitats in the world.
It is included in the so-called Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, especially as a habitat for wetland birds.
According to the criteria of the European Union Birds Directive, this area belongs to Important Bird Areas (IBA). It consists mainly of three fields: Lonjsko, Mokro and Poganovo polje.
The Nature Park was declared on March 6, 1990.
It is also fully protected by the international eco network Natura 2000.
Within the nature park Lonjsko Polje, there are three special ornithological reserves: Rakita, Đol Dražiblato i Krapje Đol.
Within the protection of Natura 2000, number of species referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2009/147/EC and listed in Annex II of Directive 92/43/EEC and site evaluation for them is 102.
Most of the area of nature park is managed by the state company Croatian Forests Ltd which are most responsible for the deforestation of huge forest areas.
By reviewing satellite images in the area protected by the international eco network Natura 2000, in the period from 2009 to 2019, we observed deforestation on a total of 7,266 ha.
(72,660,000 m2 or for comparison it is about 14,542 football fields ).
