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Environment

Environment

 

ECO HVAR'S AIMS:

To initiate, organize, promote and encourage projects to preserve and improve the natural environment.

HOW?:

- through projects for education in organic methods of farming

- through projects for education in the use of biodegradable substances for household washing and cleaning

- through projects to reduce the use of poisons and chemicals

- through projects for education in waste and rubbish management

- through projects for education in recycling

- through  projects to clean up the environment

- through projects to establish valid international organic certification for products

- through co-operation with organizations having similar aims in Croatia and abroad

Caring for Hvar's Environment

Published in Environment

What inspired ECO HVAR for the environment

Caring for Hvar's Environment
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Bird Names

Published in Environment

Names in English and Croatian of birds commonly seen on Hvar, together with the scientific names. 

Pied wagtail, December 2015.
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Hvar's Wildflower Treasures

Published in Environment

The wildflowers on Hvar are a year-round joy. Even in the depths of winter, there is hardly a week without colours brightening up the countryside, contrasting with the island's rocks and the variegated dark green of the woodlands. 

Hvar's Wildflower Treasures
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Perilous Pesticides

Published in Environment

Good health depends on clean air, clean water and a clean environment. Hvar Island is perfectly placed to offer all those amenities.

Perilous Pesticides
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Glyphosate - GBH

Published in Environment

GBH is the acronym for Grievous Bodily Harm, a criminal offence in UK law. It also stands for glyphosate-based herbicides...

Glyphosate - GBH
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Orchids, Dalmatia's Secret Treasures

Published in Environment

Wild orchids are a special part of our environment. Are we looking after them?

Orchids, Dalmatia's Secret Treasures
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Diocletian's Palace, A New Look

Published in Environment

The Romans knew how to build, and they knew how to choose the best sites for their building. Diocletian's Palace in Split is a prime and well-preserved example. New discoveries in and around the Palace in recent years have brought about a major revision of the history of this magnificent Late Antique building project.

The Peristyle
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The Organic Alternative

Published in Environment

Organic farming: possible? YES! worthwhile? YES! Mihovil Stipišić from Vrboska is proving the point.

Organic cultivation, Vrboska April 2017
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Plants, crops, soil: Natural Protection

Published in Environment

When soil is contaminated, what ends up on your plate and in your cup or glass is less than healthy. Chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizers are causing untold damage. The 'conventional model' of agriculture is exhausting the earth and undermining human health. There are much better methods of protecting soil and plants using natural resources.

Field horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
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Rubbish Management 2018

Published in Environment

Rubbish management is a hot topic, not to say hot potato, around the world at the moment, especially in Croatia, where the European Directives which were laid down some years ago are finally due to come into force on November 1st 2018.

Binning litter, do it right!
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Starigrad Plain: Our Survey

Published in Environment

 

The results from our survey about land usage on the Starigrad Plain (Hora, Ager). The survey was conducted on behalf of LAG Škoji (Local Action Group), Eco Hvar and the Agency for the Management of the Starigrad Plain. The aim was to gain an overview of land usage, and to gather information as to what the landowners think is needed to improve conditions in this historic field layout.

Donkeys grazing on the Plain, 2nd June 2014.
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Eco Environment News feeds

  • Germany’s dying forests are losing their ability to absorb CO2. Can a new way of planting save them?

    Vast swathes of the country’s trees have been killed off by droughts and infestations, in a trend sweeping across Europe. A shift towards more biodiverse cultivation could offer answers

    Even the intense green of late spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across the gentle peaks in northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest.

    Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a tree-killing bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. It has transformed a landscape known for its verdant beauty into one dominated by a sickly grey.

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  • Country diary: Everything is frozen, but still the finches come | Amanda Thomson

    Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms: Thanks to a local collaborative effort, linnets, bramblings, green and goldfinches are coming to this field in joyful flocks

    It’s -6C and I’m off to what has been a regular haunt recently – a field planted by Speyside Fields for Wildlife. This is a small, community-run charity that works with local farmers, crofters and others to take over “spare” fields and land for wildlife-friendly crops.

    Some sites are planted with annuals such as cornflower, corncockle, marigold and poppy – important sources of pollen, nectar and flowers that used to grow among the grain crops before herbicides became commonplace. Others, such as this one on a hill farm, have been planted with seed crops that benefit birds and other wildlife during autumn and winter.

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  • Dog food accounts for 1% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, study finds

    Study of 1,000 products finds wet, raw and meat-rich products have higher climate impact than dry kibble

    Dog food accounts for 1% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, according to research that found wet, raw and meat-rich products were associated with substantially higher emissions than dry kibble.

    The analysis revealed striking differences in the environmental impact of commercial dog foods, with the highest-impact foods being responsible for up to 65 times more emissions than the lowest-rated options.

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  • Supermarkets could help UK shoppers eat more sustainable local fish – study

    Shift from ‘big 5’ imports to British fish such as sprats and sardines would help diets and the planet, say researchers

    Supermarkets could help to support British consumers to move away from their reliance on mainly imported seafood – the “big 5” of cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns – to more sustainable, nutritious and locally caught fish such as sardines and anchovies, researchers say.

    A study by the University of East Anglia (UEA), which confirmed previous research showing consumers did not eat the recommended amount of fish in their diet, suggests the UK could be overlooking a major opportunity to improve national health as well as bolstering local economies by embracing its own rich populations of nutritious small fish.

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  • Fly-arousing orchid and zombie fungus among 2025 botanical and fungal finds

    Scientists also name an overlooked snowdrop growing in the UK and a fruit that tastes like banana and guava

    A zombie fungus that springs from a trapdoor and a flame-like shrub named after the fire demon in the Studio Ghibli film Howl’s Moving Castle are among the species of plant and fungi named by scientists in 2025.

    A list of 10 “weird and wonderful” new species was compiled by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew and their international partners, who together named 125 new plants last year. The list also includes an orchid whose flowers look bloodstained and attract sexually aroused flies, and a beautiful snowdrop that had been hiding in plain sight in UK gardens.

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  • US attack on Venezuela will decide direction of South America’s vast mineral wealth

    Outcome of aggression will determine whether rare earths and other resources drive energy transition – or strengthen US military power and oil interests

    The US’s first overt attack on an Amazon nation last weekend is a new phase in its extractivist rivalry with China. The outcome will decide whether the vast mineral wealth of South America is directed towards a 21st-century energy transition or a buildup of military power to defend 20th-century fossil fuel interests.

    Although this onslaught was ostensibly aimed at one corrupt dictatorship in a miserably dysfunctional country, the ramifications are far wider.

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  • Household burning of plastic waste in developing world is hidden health threat, study shows

    The practice is ‘much more widespread’ than previously realised, researchers say, with serious environmental impact

    The household burning of plastic for heating and cooking is widespread in developing countries, suggests a global study that raises concerns about its health and environmental impacts.

    The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, surveyed more than 1,000 respondents across 26 countries.

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  • Shifting offshore sandbanks pose unique navigation hazard

    Sandbanks can shift position during winter storms, but sonar mapping means charts can now be updated immediately

    Offshore sandbanks are a particular navigation hazard because, unlike rocks and reefs, they have a habit of shifting position during winter storms.

    The Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile (16km) bank off the coast of Deal in Kent, close to the busy shipping lanes of the Dover strait. The sands have claimed about 2,000 vessels over the years. In 1634, two lighthouses were set up on South Foreland for sailors to follow a safe route through.

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  • The LA wildfire victims still living in toxic homes: ‘We have nowhere else to go’

    A year after the Eaton fire, residents returning to Altadena confront lingering contamination and little official clarity

    One year on from the Eaton fire, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the San Gabriel mountains and the flames that swallowed entire streets, a shadow still hangs over Altadena.

    Construction on new properties is under way, and families whose homes survived the fire have begun to return. But many are grappling with an urgent question: is it safe to be here?

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  • ‘The soul of the city’: can Kinshasa’s last remaining baobab tree be saved?

    Across Africa, baobabs have rich symbolic meaning, but the breakneck expansion of the DRC’s capital has reduced their number in the city centre to one

    The older inhabitants of Kinshasa can remember when trees shaded its main avenues and thick-trunked baobabs stood in front of government offices.

    Jean Mangalibi, 60, from his plant nursery tucked among grey tower blocks, says the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s frenzied expansion has all but erased its greenery. “We’re destroying the city,” he says, over the sound of drilling from a nearby building site.

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