ECO-SEMINAR HELD IN HVAR

Published in Highlights

An inaugural seminar on topics related to organic farming was held in the Loggia in Hvar Town on April 7th 2016.

The Dignitea Team with Manuela Antičević of LAG Škoji. The Dignitea Team with Manuela Antičević of LAG Škoji. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

As previously advertised, this was a joint initiative between three charities, Dignitea, LAG Škoji and Eco Hvar. Dignitea and LAG Škoji shared the financing of the evening. Dignitea took on all the practical arrangements, including the sound and projection systems, which were expertly managed, as ever, by Joško Rosso.

Nada Jeličić introducing the seminar. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Nada Jeličić of Dignitea opened the proceedings. Sadly, two of the event's organizers were unable to attend: Dignitea's Katia Zaninović Dawnay, who did all the major groundwork of organizing the seminar, and Adela Duboković, who made an important contribution on behalf of LAG Škoji.

Lecturer Marija Ševar. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Marija Ševar, Master of Science, is Senior Coordinator for organic agriculture at the Advisory Service, which is a national public body covering agriculture, rural development and fishing, as well as promoting the management of forests and woodland properties. She is particularly well qualified to speak on the technicalities of organic farming, including the ins and outs of registering farmlands and produce for organic certification. Her lecture was professionally presented, with helpful clear slides clarifying the sometimes quite complicated subject matter.

The lecture subject matter outlined. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Information for organic farmers can be hard to find, not helped, for instance, by the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture no longer publishes a list of permitted fertilizers and soil enhancers on its website.

Vital eco-information no longer on the Ministry website. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The Loggia was filled with a very responsive and engaged audience.

Part of the audience. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

At the end of Mrs. Šervar's lecture two audience members were invited to share their experiences of organic farming. Andrija Carić, of the Svirče Cooperative (Poljoprivredna zadruga Svirče), who produced Hvar's first organic white wine many years ago, spoke of the problems and potential high costs involved in organic farming. He highlighted that the south side of Hvar is ideal for organic cultivation, and that joining forces is the best way for organic farmers to safeguard their incomes. Željko Bucat then described how he has been farming organically for years, without the difficulties described by Mr. Carić. 

Željko Bucat. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Mrs. Ševar's lecture was followed by a polished presentation of the work of LAG Škoji by Manuela Antičević from Vis. She described the bureaucratic hurdles the organization has had to overcome, just to reach the point where the organization can fulfil its primary functions. Soon LAG Škoji will be in a position to open the possibilities for grants, major or minor. Emphasis was placed on the need for well-prepared projects to be presented for consideration.

Manuela Antičević of LAG Škoji. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The lecture was timely, as many of the audience members had little idea of LAG's progress over the years since it was first established on Hvar, and they were interested and grateful to know that practical possibilities for funding might soon be available.

Slide: LAG possibilities. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

True to Dalmatian custom, the evening ended with a splendid feast, provided courtesy of LAG Škoji. This was a perfect opportunity for audience and speakers to discuss and exchange views while enjoying welcome refreshment.

The feast. Photo: Vivian Grisogono
Nada Jeličić in conversation with Marija Ševar. Photo: Vivian Grisogono
(L - R) Nada Jeličić, Marija Ševar, Manuela Antičević, Vivian Grisogono. Photo: Frank John Dubković

The seminar was an original initiative for Hvar, and was duly highlighted in Dalmatia's most widely-read publication, Slobodna Dalmacija.

Press coverage. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Building on this initiative, further seminars are planned, with a Round Table envisaged for the end of April. This will be based on practice, with established organic farmers providing the introduction, leading into an open discussion and exchange of views between all the participants in the seminar.

© Vivian Grisogono 2016

You are here: Home highlights ECO-SEMINAR HELD IN HVAR

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Revealed: Edelman worked for Brazilian trade group accused of pushing for environmental rollbacks in Amazon

    Edelman, the world’s largest public relations agency, is in talks to work with the Cop30 team organising the UN climate summit in the Amazon later this year despite its prior connections to a major trade group accused of lobbying to roll back measures to protect the area from deforestation, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal.

    The summit is set to take place in November in the city of Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, which has been ravaged by deforestation linked to Brazil’s powerful agriculture industry. For the first time, the talks will be “at the epicenter of the climate crisis”, the summit’s president wrote last week. “As the Cop comes to the Amazon, forests will naturally be a central topic,” he added.

    Continue reading...

  • Energy security and net zero secretary travels to Beijing for countries’ first formal climate meetings since 2017

    Ed Miliband has accused the previous Conservative government of negligence for failing to engage with China on climate issues, as he travelled to Beijing for the countries’ first formal climate meetings since 2017.

    The secretary of state for energy security and net zero was in Beijing to announce a new annual UK-China climate dialogue. The first summit will take place in London later this year. China’s minister of ecology and environment, Huang Runqiu, is expected to attend.

    Continue reading...

  • After years of helping Scottish criminal investigations and despite fearing for his life in India, Vishal Sharma’s asylum claim has been rejected

    When Vishal Sharma, an experienced merchant seaman, arrived in London from India in November 2017, he was looking forward to a good job on a Belgian tanker, the MT Waasmunster, assisting engineers. He had a 15-month contract and a transit visa, enabling him to travel to Milford Haven in Wales, where the 174-metre vessel was anchored.

    But in a last-minute change of plan, his Mumbai agent told him to head to Southwick in West Sussex, England, to board a scallop trawler, the Noordzee.

    Continue reading...

  • Village joins continental network alongside nearby Knepp estate, as birds previously extinct in Britain flourish

    The Saxons knew the West Sussex village of Storrington as Estorchestone, the “abode of the storks”.

    But the graceful white birds disappeared from its skies more than 600 years ago, when they became extinct in Britain.

    Continue reading...

  • In the 1960s, the Swiss had some of the dirtiest water in Europe. Now, their cities boast pristine rivers and lakes – and other countries are looking to follow their lead

    In the first days of spring, people flock to Lake Geneva’s broad, tree-lined promenade, their faces tilted towards the sun. Dior, Cartier and Rolex are among the high-end shopfronts overlooking the water. René Rottenberg, 75, has just finished his 400m swim through this upmarket urban jungle – a ritual he repeats up to five times a week, even in midwinter.

    For the retired gynaecologist, being able to swim in the crystal-clear water is the greatest luxury. “It’s just so fun,” he says. “The place is beautiful.”

    Continue reading...

  • Gulls are known for being ravenous – check out a selection of things they like

    • All images from the Gulls Eating Stuff project

    From profiteroles to moles: project uncovers gulls’ surprising diet

    Continue reading...

  • From the earthquake-defying joints that support a 13th-century temple to the delicacy of sashimono puzzle boxes, a new exhibition shows off the myriad possibilities of this centuries-old craft

    Do you know your ant’s head from your shell mouth? Or your cogged lap from your scarfed gooseneck? These are just some of the mind-boggling array of timber jointing techniques on display in a new exhibition spotlighting the meticulous craft of Japanese carpentry. The basement gallery of London’s Japan House has been transformed into a woody wonder world of chisels and saws, mortises and tenons, and brackets of infinite intricacy, alongside traditional clay plastering, shoji paper screen making and tatami mat weaving. It is a dazzling display of the phenomenal skills behind centuries of timber architecture and joinery, celebrating elite master carpenters with the spiritual reverence of a high priesthood.

    “In Japan we have a deep respect for our forests,” says curator Nishiyama Marcelo, who heads up the team at the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kobe, a temple to the history of Japanese joinery. “If a carpenter uses a 1,000-year-old tree, they must be prepared to take on more than 1,000 years of responsibility for the building that they create.”

    It is a momentous duty, and one we should heed. As debates around the embodied carbon of the built environment dominate the construction industry, there could be no more timely exhibition to remind us of the importance of designing with longevity, care and repair in mind. Numerous specialist tools have been shipped over from the Kobe museum, along with a team of master carpenters who have built a remarkable series of structures in the gallery, replicating parts of buildings that have lasted for hundreds of years in the face of wind, rain, snow and earthquakes.

    Continue reading...

  • Three years ago, when I was stuck in a traffic jam, I decided to stop to visit a park I’d passed by many times. Now, I go there at least one morning a week

    I must have passed it 100 times. Until one day in 2022, stuck in Melbourne traffic, I glanced towards the park in Bayside and saw mist rising from the trees, as if they had just exhaled into the dawn sunlight. This sight cheered me, lifting the pall of the workday grind ahead. Right then I made a resolution to interrupt my commute at least once a week by visiting the park and I have kept to it ever since.

    The next day I left the stream of traffic, parked the car and walked into the park, skirting the cricket oval where dogs chase sassy swallows skimming the grass just out of reach. Past there is a quiet pond where you will find ducks and turtles, and beside it is one of those forgotten patches of land where nature gets to do her thing unhindered.

    Continue reading...

  • Hundreds of millions of pilgrims flocked to the Ganges for this year’s festival, housed in a sprawling temporary metropolis stretching across 4,000 hectares of the floodplains of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh

    For 45 days the floodplains of Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh known as Allahabad until 2018, were a churning sea of humanity. Millions waded into the freezing waters of the sangam – the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, plus a mythical one, the Saraswati – believing that a single dip could wash away a lifetime of sin.

    From dawn until well past midnight, the riverbanks teemed with saffron-clad sadhus, bare-chested pilgrims and families clutching brass urns, garlands and clay lamps, an unceasing tide of pilgrims.

    Pilgrims performing one of the rituals associated with the ‘holy water’ of the rivers at this year’s Kumbh Mela

    Continue reading...

  • Since Dutton became opposition leader, the billionaire mining magnate has cultivated their bond. We look back at their increasingly close relationship

    The buzz from Gina Rinehart’s 70th birthday party was reportedly “so spectacular” that it drifted across the Swan River from the mining magnate’s Perth home, catching the attention of people more than a kilometre away.

    Four hundred guests, mostly employees, had gathered to mark the milestone of the Hancock Prospecting head, who is deferentially referred to as “the Chairman” or “Mrs Rinehart”.

    Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds