Eco Hvar's aims for protecting animals and improving animal welfare, plus related articles
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Photo: Vivian Grisogono
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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.
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.
CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakening
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, UN data shows, deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world.
Scientists are worried that the natural land and ocean “sinks” that remove CO2 from the air are weakening as a result of global heating, which could form a vicious circle and drive temperatures up even faster.
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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an annual competition hosted by the Natural History Museum in London, which awards top honours in various categories for outstanding photography
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Climate advisers warn that current plans to protect against extreme weather are inadequate
Britain must prepare for global heating far in excess of the level scientists have pegged as the limit of safety, the government’s climate advisers have warned, as current plans to protect against extreme weather are inadequate.
Heatwaves will occur in at least four of every five years in England by 2050, and time spent in drought will double. The number of days of peak wildfire conditions in July will nearly treble for the UK, while floods will increase in frequency throughout the year, with some peak river flows increasing by 40%.
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American officials have threatened supporters of measure to reduce emissions with tariffs and other retaliatory action
Donald Trump’s government is putting intense pressure on vulnerable countries to vote against measures that would force shipping companies to pay for their carbon emissions.
US officials have written to countries that support the measure and besieged them with phone calls threatening to impose tariffs, withdraw visa rights and take other retaliatory action.
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The Advertising Standards Authority agrees with River Action that the food safety body’s 2023 advert misled the public
The UK’s advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint that Britain’s biggest farm assurance scheme misled the public in a TV ad about its environmental standards.
The Red Tractor scheme, used by leading supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Morrisons to assure customers their food meets high standards for welfare, environment, traceability and safety,is the biggest and perhaps best known assurance system in Britain.
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Hampstead, London: Spring has the dawn chorus, autumn has “vismig”, the changing of the guard of millions of birds – an early start for me, then, to try and glimpse this remarkable phenomenon
I’ve monitored the autumn forecast. Mushrooms and conkers, good, occasional blackberries; acorns crunching underfoot, moderate; spiders’ webs and cosy jumpers intensifying; severe crumble-making, veering west.
And migrating birds. Storm Amy has passed, and with air pressure rising, there’s the whiff of a seasonal treat: visible migration – “vismig” for short. They travel in their millions – summer visitors outgoing southwards, winter arrivals incoming from the north. Swallows, pipits, thrushes, finches and more. A remarkable population shift to mark changing seasons. Many fly by night, but some are diurnal, and at the right time and place, you might see a slice of this unrivalled phenomenon. Spring has its dawn chorus; vismig is autumn’s gift.
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Allegations related to flood control projects have sparked widespread anger and protests in the Philippines
Philippine health worker Christina Padora waded through July’s waist-high flood water to check on vaccines and vital medications stored in the village clinic, something she had regularly done during previous typhoons.
But this time she didn’t make it. Taking hold of a metal pole that she failed to see was connected to a live wire, the 49-year-old was fatally electrocuted in the water.
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Only two female northern white rhinos are left – but neither can carry a pregnancy. So a surrogate was used. Tragically, the foetus didn’t reach full term
This photograph captures a moment of fragile hope: the world’s first IVF rhino pregnancy, a tiny foetus that reignited optimism among scientists fighting to save the northern white rhino from extinction. There are only two female northern white rhinos left on the planet – Najin and her daughter Fatu. Neither can carry a pregnancy due to health complications. The last male died in 2018 and that makes the species functionally extinct.
For the past 15 years, the BioRescue Project – an international consortium dedicated to saving the species – has been collecting and preserving sperm from deceased males. Using this genetic material and egg cells from Fatu, they’ve created 38 embryos. It may sound like a lot, but it’s not. Since Najin and Fatu cannot carry a pregnancy, surrogate mothers are essential and it was decided to use southern white rhinos, a less endangered subspecies. The team also needed to prove that their technique would work with southern white rhino embryos before transferring any of the northern white rhino embryos into a surrogate.
After 13 attempts to transfer an embryo they achieved the first viable IVF pregnancy in a southern white rhino. The foetus in this image is the result after transfer. Tragically, the pregnancy didn’t reach full term (16-18 months), as the surrogate mother died from a bacterial infection at 70 days. But the pregnancy demonstrated that the technique is viable – a critical milestone.
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Garden getting you down? Tempted to just pave or concrete over the whole thing and put your feet up? There are more enjoyable and eco-friendly alternatives, from miniature meadows to giant borders
When faced with a muddy swamp, or a lawn that needs mowing (again), the most nihilistic among us may dream of concreting over the whole garden – and some turn that dream into reality. A recent report by the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), which represents garden centres and suppliers, has warned that within the next five years, nearly a quarter of UK householders plan to pave or deck over at least part of their garden, and of those, nearly a third plan to cover more than half of the area. The HTA estimates this could mean a loss of about 8% of the UK’s total private green space, or 409 sq km.
“Paving over gardens with impermeable surfaces has and will continue to undermine urban resilience,” says Prof Alistair Griffiths, the director of science and collections at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Water can’t get through concrete, asphalt and paving, which contributes to surface flooding and overwhelms the sewer system, leading to pollution runoff. Loss of vegetation also contributes to global heating. “We’ve got these increased extremes of heat and if you lose green space, you lose that cooling effect,” he adds. Then there’s the loss of biodiversity that comes from paving over green space – not to mention the impact of a dead, grey landscape on people’s mental health. One RHS study showed that people who nurtured a couple of containers of flowers and a small tree in an urban street lowered their stress hormones as much as if they’d attended eight weekly mindfulness sessions.
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After charging, there was a power system malfunction but MG closed the case and insisted a safety check was at our own expense
Our MG5electric car became dangerously out of control, but MG won’t do anything about it.
The car suffered a power system malfunction after we had used a charger at amotorwayservice station.
Continue reading...New research suggests singing can be clinically effective at treating the symptoms and cost effective for the NHS.
An inquest into Maria Morris's death found it was accidental, but her family still have questions over what happened the night she died.
Mike Nesbitt said a plan has been developed, but not yet been finalised, and will be published on Thursday.
Failings in Colin Flatt's care in the final months of his life are laid bare in a new report.
The former PM is among those in favour of targeted screening for men most at risk, but some medical experts are sceptical.
New guidance for doctors says focusing on fruit in our diets can help with a really common complaint.
BBC researchers caught pharmacists trying to sell Botox without assessing patients first.
Several of the hostages will be brought from Gaza to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
Cameron McGerr lost both his parents and is campaigning to have life-saving first aid taught in schools.
More than 100 million people, including at least 15 million children, use e-cigarettes, fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction, say experts.
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.
“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’s Neil Vora was selected for TIME’s Next 100 list — alongside other rising leaders reshaping culture, science and society.
Climate change is happening. And it’s placing the world’s reefs in peril. What can be done?
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.
The Amazon rainforest, known for lush green canopies and an abundance of freshwater, is drying out — and deforestation is largely to blame.
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.
In a grueling and delicate dance, a team led by Conservation International removes a massive undersea killer.
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.
In a fishing community in Peru, a small group of fishermen carry on a tradition that dates back to the Incas. But an environmental disaster and modern fishing practices threaten this way of life.
