Eco Hvar - home for ecology on Hvar Island in Croatia

Welcome to the Eco-Hvar website

Welcome to the Eco-Hvar website!

Hvar Island on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It has the makings of a paradise on earth. Islanders have long boasted of the clean air and sea, the pristine natural environment and the healthy lifestyle based on a good diet and outdoor living.

*Clear sea in Hvar harbour, July 2014. Photo: Vivian Grisogono*

Tourism is the island’s main economic activity. Hvar Town established the first professional tourist organization in Europe when the Hvar Health Society (Higijeničko društvo Hvar) was founded way back in 1868 under the leadership of Bishop Juraj Duboković. The Society’s aim was to attract guests to Hvar Town who could benefit from the climate, especially the mild winter, and the clean air. These ‘health tourists’ were well looked after by all accounts, with good food and healthy activities. They provided the foundation for Hvar’s enduring successful tourist industry.

The style of tourism has changed over the years. The basis of Hvar Island’s attractions remains the same. Many people still come to visit or stay here in order to enjoy the clean air, sea and countryside. No-one is disappointed in the natural beauty of the place. There are also other attractions, including the island's rich and colourful history and cultural heritage, not to mention the good food and high quality wines.

However, the island is not perfect. Certain aspects could and should be changed. There is a surprisingly high incidence of smoking- and diet-related illnesses on the island, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and lung problems. The doctors also have to deal with thyroid and hormonal disturbances, especially in young girls, and cancers in all age groups. The indications are that islanders need a better understanding of healthy lifestyle habits, also a clearer knowledge of the downside of using chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

For animal-lovers, the treatment of animals also gives cause for concern. There is no animal rescue facility on the island, and refuges for dogs and cats are urgently needed so proper care can be provided for homeless animals.

The registered not-for-profit charity Eco Hvar was founded in 2013 to help improve conditions for people, animals and the environment. You can read details of the charity's aims in each category on these links: Environment, Health, Animals. The overall ideal aim is to create a true earthly paradise on the exquisite Island of Hvar.

Eco Hvar is pleased to co-operate with like-minded organizations, and is a member of PAN Europe, and LAG Škoji, and a supporter of Zemljane staze - Earth Trek (Facebook page), Održivi otok ('Sustainable Island') (Facebook page), Dignitea (Facebook page) and Pokret otoka ('Island Movement')..

For comprehensive research and strategies for environmental protection, we follow and strongly recommend The Nature-based Solutions Initiative, which operates from the UK University of Oxford Departments of Biology and Geography.

The Eco-Hvar website contains original articles, information, references and links in keeping with the aims of Eco Hvar. All the material on the website is copyright, including the illustrations and photographs, and may not be reproduced or published in any form except with the copyright holders' written permission. However, you are welcome to copy or print out any of the articles for personal use only. For day-by-day topics of interest in keeping with Eco Hvar's aims, you can follow us on Facebook.

Media

For the Good of All!

Better Ways

Nature Watch

Highlights

About Animals

Forum items

Notices

Poisons Beware!

Donations

Donations can be made in euros, pounds sterling, US and Australian dollars and Swiss francs. All donations, however small, are very welcome. We acknowledge donations by email if we have the donor's address. Please let us know if you require a formal paper receipt.

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW BANK DETAILS:

ECO HVAR BANK DETAILS

OTP banka d.d. Split, Domovinskog rata 61, 21000 Split;

Poslovnica Jelsa, 21465 Jelsa.

IBAN HR7024070001100727245; BIC OTPVHR2X
Account name: ECO HVAR

Account address: Pitve 93, 21465 Jelsa, Croatia

If the payment slip has a box for 'further details' or 'further information' you should enter the Charity's OIB: 14009858487, and state 'donation' or 'donacija'.

About The Site

The site contains articles and information on topics related to health, the environment and animal welfare.

While the focus is on Hvar Island in Dalmatia, much of the information is relevant to the rest of Croatia, and some to Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.

The main language of the site is English, but articles in Croatian are being added as quickly as possible. Some of the Croatian articles are translations, some original. Book reviews are in the language of the publication being reviewed.

To see all the articles archived in each category, click on the category name which is given below the title of each article (Environment, Highlights, Notices etc).

For further relevant news items and bits of interesting information, please refer to our Facebook page.

Thanks

We are very grateful to Željka Horvat Kozulić for kindly and expertly designing the ECO HVAR logo, also to Jelena Bunčuga, Petra Mimica, Bartul Mimica, Ivana Župan, Dinka Barbić and Josip Vlainić for their generous help in translating articles into Croatian.

Special thanks are also owed to Mihael Magdić of Orion Informatika i Trgovina, Varaždin, for his excellent and patient efforts in designing the website.

Eco Environment News feeds

Plastics industry pushed ‘advanced recycling’ despite knowing problems – report

Producers promoted chemical recycling – processes used to break plastics into constituent molecules – but knew of limitations
Plastic producers have pushed “advanced recycling” as a salve to the plastic waste crisis despite knowing for years that it is not a technically or economically feasible solution, a new report argues.
Advanced recycling, also known as chemical recycling, refers to a variety of processes used to break plastics into their constituent molecules. The industry has increasingly promoted these technologies, as public concern about the environmental and health effects of plastic pollution has grown. Yet the rollout of these technologies has been plagued by problems, according to a new analysis from the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), a fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group.
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‘Astonishing journeys’: online tool tracking migratory animals highlights challenge of protecting them

The University of Queensland system is intended to give policymakers idea of how species traverse the oceans and what it will take to save them
- Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
Off the east coast of Florida, female loggerhead turtles swim more than 1,000km north, hugging the edge of the continental shelf to get to feeding grounds.
Humpback whales move through Moreton Bay off the Brisbane coast in Australia, on their way to feed around the Balleny Islands more than 4,000km away off the Antarctic coastline, where wandering albatross circle above, travelling 1,000km a day.
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
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‘A future on our terms’: how community energy is lighting up Latin America

Small-scale schemes are replacing dirty diesel with clean electricity in remote areas – and ensuring a just transition
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Roxana Borda Mamani had to leave Mexico, where she was studying for her degree in rural development and food security, and return to her remote village in the Peruvian Amazon.
At the time, the Indigenous community in Alto Mishagua had neither an internet connection nor a reliable energy source. “How am I going to study?” Borda asked. “With energy from the sun,” replied her friend, a fellow member of the Latin American Observatory for Energy Geopolitics at the Brazil-based Federal University of Latin American Integration (Unila).
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‘A cemetery of trees’: vast green expanses turned to dust as loggers plunder South America’s Gran Chaco

Jaguars, giant armadillos and ocelots among species threatened by shrinking habitat in one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world
In the Gran Chaco forest, vast green expanses – home to jaguars, giant armadillos and howler monkeys – have turned to fields of dust. The forest once brimmed with life, says Bashe Nuhem, a member of the Indigenous Qom community, but then came a road, and soon after that logging companies. “It was an invasion. Loggers came without any consultation and families moved away. Those that stayed were left with only a cemetery of trees,” she says.
The Gran Chaco is South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon; its 100m hectares (247m acres) stretch across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. It is also one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world – host to more than 3,400 species of plants, 500 birds, 150 mammals, 120 reptiles and 100 amphibians.
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Country diary: In praise of the ‘low-value’ sycamore tree | Phil Gates

Weardale, North Pennines: This one is showing its worth, teeming with aphids, ready to kickstart a vast and far-reaching food web
Sunbeams flicker through the translucent young foliage of the sycamore canopy overhead. A shadow darts among them: a blackcap, pecking aphids from the underside of the leaves.
The insects hatched from overwintering eggs in early April, congregating on loosening bud scales, waiting for tender new leaves to unfurl. Now there are legions of them, aligned along leaf veins, hypodermic stylets plugged in, siphoning sweet sap while simultaneously giving birth to more. They stand with regimented parade-ground spacing, just close enough to stay in touch with their long antennae. A shiver of fidgeting sweeps through the colony as the blackcap approaches.
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Rare New Zealand snail filmed laying egg via its neck for first time

Mount Augustus snail, among largest in world, can live for decades and eats slugs and earthworms
- Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
A large rare carnivorous New Zealand snail has been filmed laying an egg from its neck for the first time, in a delightfully icky stroke of luck.
The department of conservation, which has been managing a captive population of Powelliphanta augusta,or the Mount Augustus snail, for almost two decades, was undertaking a routine weight check when a small, white egg started emerging from a snail’s neck.
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Weatherwatch: How AI could offer faster, affordable weather forecasting

Researchers say AI could give every developing country a vital early warning system of extreme events
Weather forecasting has gradually been getting more and more sophisticated. It has also got far more important as the climate gets more unpredictable and extreme events threaten to cause massive economic damage and loss of life. So an early warning system is vital.
Ever larger computer systems making millions of calculations over many hours are now part of the daily forecasting in most developed countries. Sadly large parts of the world, many very vulnerable to dangerous climate events, do not have the money, personnel or computing power to develop the 10-day forecasting system they need.
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Experience: I walked the length of the UK with a donkey

After a relationship breakup, rambling 700 miles from the Highlands to Dorset with Martin helped restore my faith in people
I’ve always had a keen sense of adventure. During the summer holidays, my parents would push me and my sister out of the front door and tell us only to come home to eat. I went from roaming the streets of Hackney in east London as a child, to trekking, wild camping and hitchhiking the length of the Americas in my late 20s.
After returning to my home in Liverpool, I worked as a photographer and got into a relationship. When we broke up years later, I was distraught – but it led me back to the life of exploration that I’d put on the back‑burner. In the summer of 2016, I embarked on a solo 1,000-mile (1,600km) route through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Not wanting to feel sealed off from the wondrous environments around me, I did the majority of it on foot.
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‘We’re still living with the aftermath’: Floridians brace for fresh hurricane season

With less than a month before the start of the 2025 hurricane season, residents are still recovering from catastrophic damage from the past two years
Idalia. Debby. Helene.
Not visiting friends, not neighbors. All hurricanes that have not yet faded into memory for the residents of Taylor county in Florida, where all three powerful storms hit in just two years.
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‘The fledglings couldn’t escape’: Dartmoor blaze raises questions about wildfire strategy

Commoners say restrictive grazing may be raising risk of fires like one that scorched 500ha of moorland
The spot where the wildfire broke out could hardly have been worse. Cut Hill is one of the remotest and highest peaks on Dartmoor, miles from any road, a place of tussocky, ankle-turning terrain.
And the weeks of hot weather meant the molinia, the moorland grass, was as tinder dry as farmers can remember it at this time of year. Once it took hold, on Sunday, the fire raged.
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Eco Health News feeds

NHS plans 'unthinkable' cuts to balance books

Diabetes care, rehab centres, end-of-life services and talking therapies at risk in England.
More blood victims will die without compensation - minister

Extra sessions of the public inquiry into what's been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history are taking place.
'The NHS at its worst', ex-ombudsman tells inquiry

Sir Rob Behrens says it was a "disgrace" how mental health services failed two vulnerable men.
Big baby trial gives pregnant women more choice

Doctors say women should be confident it's safe to be induced from 38 weeks, if expecting a large baby.
Plan to modernise 1,000 GP practice buildings

The Department of Health and Social Care said it is the biggest public investment in facilities in England in five years.
'Doctors told my mum poison symptoms were anxiety'

Ellena Baxter says watching her mother's health deteriorate was devastating.
Teen unable to eat due to rare digestive condition

Finley receives weekly injections into his heart as his digestive system cannot tolerate lipids.
Assisted deaths could be more than 4,000 in 10th year after law change

Estimate included in official review of costs and impact of passing assisted dying law in England and Wales.
What is the infected blood scandal?

Thousands were infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
Teen mental health: When to seek help and what parents can do

Mental health problems are increasing in young people. How can their families support them? And when should professional help be sought?

Eco Nature News feeds

An overlooked climate ally is in deep trouble

Underwater and out of sight, the world’s seagrasses are under threat. A new study says failure to protect them will come at a steep cost — in more ways than one.
News spotlight: Study buoys hope for rare axolotls

Axolotls — the cute and charismatic creatures made famous by the video game “Minecraft” — are in a free fall. But a new study is offering a glimmer of hope.
Heal our planet: Protecting nature for climate

"Heal our planet, protect our future”: six words driving a global movement to protect nature. Conservation International is meeting the moment in an ambitious new campaign.
News spotlight: Got climate anxiety? Write a letter to the future

Penning a message can ease fears, promote action, recent research indicates.
What on Earth is ‘eDNA’?

From “blue carbon” to “ecosystem services,” environmental jargon is everywhere. In an explainer series, we try to make sense of it.
In Hawai‘i, new effort to bring invasive species to heel

If you can’t beat ’em, wear ’em? Conservation International, designers turn fish into fashion.
Ahead of pandemic talks, this doctor has nature on his mind

Human health, animal health and environmental health are interconnected. A new article published in the Lancet argues for an approach to pandemic threats that embraces this idea.
Amid a vanishing savanna, new corridor a ‘big win’ for wildlife

Conservation International is helping recover a savanna habitat nearly twice the size of Manhattan.
Can tree farms save a forest? Brazil is about to find out

In Brazil's s Mato Grosso do Sul, native species are reclaiming thousands of acres once heavily grazed by cattle. A bold initiative aims to protect and restore nature to an area twice the size of Manhattan — and find new ways to pay for it.
What on Earth is ‘HFLD’? (Hint: It’s about forests)

From “blue carbon” to “ecosystem services,” environmental jargon is everywhere. Conservation International looks to make sense of it in an occasional explainer series. In this installment, we explore the role “HFLDs,” play in storing climate-warming carbon.

ECO HVAR: AIMS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY

Environment

Health

Animals