Having gained its independence in 1991, Slovenia ratified several international conventions which it inherited from Yugoslavia. In 1993 the Secovlje saltpans became the first Slovenian wetlands to be put on the Ramsar list because of their exceptional landscape and ecological value. Salt-making museum Over the last ten years, at the Giassi channel of the abandoned Fontanigga saltpans, a museum complex was created. One of the museum buildings houses a collection of old salt-making techniques, while in the other, there is a salt warehouse and a modern room and kitchen intended for the workers of the two museum salt fields and occasional research and teaching activities. The museum complex will in future be intended exclusively for visitors to the saltpans or the landscape park and will be turned into a teaching museum complex with the aim of reducing the visitor pressure on the rest of the saltpan ecosystem.
Saltpans are one of the most threatened wetlands in the Mediterranean.
In this century, pollution has caused increasing disappearance of this element of the Mediterranean cultural landscape, the strategic significance and cultural heritage of which for centuries has helped shape the Mediterranean civilisation. With it, many forms of life of saltpan ecosystems have been disappearing. As part of the policy of the protection of rich natural heritage, in 1993 the Republic of Slovenia joined the efforts for the preservation of these ecosystems by placing the Secovlje saltpans on the Ramsar list . The Secovlje saltpans are so far the only Slovenian wetlands on the list and are famous for their exceptional ecological and landscape value.