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

Ed Miliband confirms crackdown on North Sea exploration – but new drilling will continue

Strategy paper released with budget allows new oil and gas projects to move ahead if they are linked to existing fields
- Comment: Labour is still in a muddle on North Sea oil and gas
The government has ruled out new North Sea oil and gas exploration or lower taxes for fossil fuel companies as it struggles to protect workers from the industry’s collapse.
In a strategy paper, Ed Miliband confirmed the crackdown on new North Sea exploration – although the energy secretary will still allow new offshore fossil fuel projects to move ahead as long as they are linked to existing fields.
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The bird people of Lake Manchar: surviving in a vanishing oasis

The Mohana of Pakistan’s Sindh province once thrived on the lake but pollution and drought have caused the fragile ecosystem to collapse, along with their way of life
At the mouth of Lake Manchar, gentle lapping disturbs the silence. A small boat cuts through the water, propelled by a bamboo pole scraping the muddy bottom of the canal.
Bashir Ahmed manoeuvres his frail craft with agility. His slender boat is more than just a means of transport. It is the legacy of a people who live to the rhythm of water: the Mohana. They have lived for generations on the waters of Lake Manchar in Sindh province, a vast freshwater mirror covering nearly 250 sq km. The lake, once the largest in Pakistan, was long an oasis of life. Now, it is dying.
Bashir Ahmed in his boat on the lake, next to simple huts built on top of the right bank outfall drain
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Plastic nurdles found at 84% of UK sites of special scientific interest

Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pellets
Plastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.
Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution.
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Protests, tears and a baby: five key images that tell the story of Cop30

Emotions ran high at the UN climate summit in Brazil, which was hit by its first major protest in four years
It was a tense moment. A group of about 50 people from the Munduruku, an Indigenous people in the Amazon basin, had blocked the entrance to the Cop30 venue in protest, causing long lines of delegates to snake down access roads, simmering in the morning heat.
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‘It’s heartbreaking’: how 30 captive beluga whales have become pawns in row over animal cruelty

As the government, Marineland of Canada and activists remain at loggerheads over whales’ fate, health and freedom of beloved animals hangs in balance
Jelly Bean’s son Bertie Botts is an adorable little “ham sandwich”. Orion – nicknamed “Onion Ring” – is a large but fiercely protective friend. Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and wiggles like a worm. Lillooet is the “biggest cuddle bug” with a heart of gold.
Thirty captive beluga whales in a Canadian amusement park have become pawns in a tussle between a shuttered park, local and national governments and animal rights activists.
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‘A precarious position’: almost 3,000 species at risk of disappearing from Wales, report finds

Environmental body says modest investment and changes can help preserve long list of animals, fungi and lichen
Almost 3,000 species ranging from glorious birds to tiny lichen are in peril in Wales because they are clinging on in a handful of locations or even fewer, a groundbreaking report has revealed.
The report from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) highlights that, since the millennium, 11 species have already been lost to Cymru, including the turtle dove and belted beauty moth. It warns that 2,955 other terrestrial or freshwater species are at serious risk because they are confined to five locations or fewer.
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Country diary: Once a plain old field, now a thriving forest garden | Anita Roy

Wellington, Somerset: The five years we’ve spent transforming this patch has been recognised with an RHS award. We’re proud, but we’re not done yet
Volunteers from Transition Town Wellington (TTW) are out in the rain on Fox’s Field this morning – there’s always work to be done, whatever the weather. Five years back, this 8.5-acre field was just rough grass and nettles; today, it’s a thriving forest garden encircled by a food hedge, or “fedge”. Saplings we’d planted as knee‑high muddy twigs now spread their branches above us. There are winding woodchip pathways, a riot of herbs, seven‑foot high cardoons holding their fat black seedheads up to the lowering sky.
We’re clearing the grass and old hay from on top of the black plastic clearance mulch, heaving it into wheelbarrows and piling it up into new heaps to make compost for next year’s mulch.
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$10 for a pair of used tongs? When secondhand prices are higher than new

For op shops, setting prices is a delicate balance. Too high and they risk pricing out customers, too low and it becomes difficult to cover costs
- Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
I was at a tip shop looking for a whisk, expecting to find one for $1, maybe $2, when a small pair of tongs caught my eye. The price, written on the metal with permanent marker, was $10.
I snapped a photo and sent it to a group of op-shopping friends. “Tip shop pricing!” I wrote. “Tell ’em they’re dreamin’,” one quipped. After all, a pair on Kmart’s website that looked the same – but cleaner – cost $1.75.
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A moment that changed me: I adopted a koala, he bit me – and I remembered something important about myself

As I watched the news about Australia’s devastating bushfires in 2020 I felt compelled to help. It was the start of a new relationship with nature, and a reminder of my childhood joie de vivre
As hookup sites go, it was in another league. I was looking for a different kind of soulmate and I was spoilt for choice. Would it be Floyd, “a stylish poser and a winner of hearts”? Or Bobby, “who loves cuddling and is a bit of a showoff”? Or could it be the “beautiful and incredibly sweet Morris with a gentle nature”? One stood out. Not only was he “very affectionate” but he was also “a bit of a troublemaker – always exploring and often found sitting on the rocks”. Just what I was looking for; I swiped right. That’s how I met Jarrah. My koala.
A month before, in 2020, I’d seen a newsflash about the bushfires in Australia. The effect on the continent’s wildlife was devastating. An estimated 61,000 koalas had been killed or injured among 143 million other native mammals. There were two things I felt I could do from the UK: one was to make koala mittens to protect their burnt paws (following a pattern I found online); and two, I could adopt a koala and send monthly donations to protect them in the wild. So I joined the Australian Koala Foundation, which is dedicated to the marsupials’ survival.
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‘Taking back the desert’: can Australia’s small marsupials learn how to live alongside their predator, the feral cat?

Scientists excited by progress in bold project to see if native species can train themselves to survive alongside cats
- Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here
In the middle of the Australian outback’s arid deserts, many of the country’s distinctive small marsupials – the bilbies, bandicoots and quolls – have been missing for a century or more, wiped out by land clearing and the hunting prowess of feral cats. Felis catus – introduced by European invaders and settlers – was too fast and too agile for the native mammals that had not evolved with this voracious and adaptable new predator.
While efforts to rid the landscape of cats have so far failed, a group of scientists have entered into a bold project to see if small marsupials can train themselves to survive alongside the cats that drove their species almost to extinction.
Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Sugar tax extended to milk-based drinks: What you need to know

Milkshakes and lattes to be included in UK sugar tax scheme for the first time.
Adolescence lasts into 30s - new study shows four pivotal ages for your brain

Brain scans on thousands of people reveal the dramatic shifts the brain goes through between birth and death.
Man donates kidney to woman he met after crash

Transplant donor says "anyone with a heart would give something to keep someone else alive".
Transplant pioneer Sir Terence English dies at 93

Tributes are paid to the renowned surgeon who carried out the UK's first successful heart transplant.
Review of unpaid carer debts announced after damning report

Former charity boss Liz Sayce found confusing guidance on Carer's Allowance had left thousands with fines and surprise bills.
Obesity jab drug fails to slow Alzheimer's

There were initial hopes that the drug in weight loss jab Wegovy could slow progression of dementia.
JFK's granddaughter raises awareness of rare leukaemia with poignant essay

Doctors say Tatiana Schlossberg's struggle - even with the best care as a member of a prominent family - emphasises the need for more research.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer and what should you check for?

One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.
Lord Cameron reveals he had prostate cancer

The former PM is calling for more men to be screened for the disease, which is the most common cancer in males in the UK.
Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy

Oliver has an inherited condition called Hunter syndrome, which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.

Eco Nature News feeds

Candid cameras catch a glimpse of rare wildlife

Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
How a family farm in the Amazon landed on the world’s best menu

At Maido — the Lima restaurant recently crowned the best in the world — one of the star dishes is paiche, a giant prehistoric river fish.Its journey to the table begins on a small family farm deep in Peru’s Amazon.
‘A profound loss’: Conservation world mourns Jane Goodall

“Jane Goodall forever changed how people think about, interact with and care for the natural world,” said Daniela Raik, interim CEO of Conservation International.
Conservation International expert earns global recognition on TIME100 Next

Conservation International’s Neil Vora was selected for TIME’s Next 100 list — alongside other rising leaders reshaping culture, science and society.
What on Earth is ‘coral bleaching’?

Climate change is happening. And it’s placing the world’s reefs in peril. What can be done?
Landmark high seas treaty crosses finish line

After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. The historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters which face numerous threats.
News spotlight: Deforestation linked to dramatic decline in Amazon rainfall

The Amazon rainforest, known for lush green canopies and an abundance of freshwater, is drying out — and deforestation is largely to blame.
5 ways the ocean keeps our climate in check

The ocean is engine of all life on Earth, but human-driven climate change is pushing it past its limits. Here are five ways the ocean keeps our climate in check — and what can be done to help.
Off Mexico’s coast, divers nab biggest ‘ghost’ yet

In a grueling and delicate dance, a team led by Conservation International removes a massive undersea killer.
Protect wildlife: Buy a print

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures might be worth even more. An initiative featuring the work of some of the world’s best nature photographers raises money for environmental conservation.

ECO HVAR: AIMS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY

Environment

Health

Animals