Eco Hvar's aims for protecting animals and improving animal welfare, plus related articles
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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.
UN agency predicts phenomenon that supercharges weather extremes has 80% chance of forming before September
The world must prepare for the imminent return of El Niño and the supercharged weather extremes it brings, the UN has warned.
The powerful natural weather pattern, which raises global temperatures and worsens some rainfall, has an 80% chance of forming before September and a 90% chance of persisting until November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.
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Net zero industry accounts for more than a million jobs and benefits whole country, according to CBI Economics
More than a million jobs, higher wages, nearly half a trillion pounds in investment in the pipeline – the UK’s green economy is powering ahead, according to research by the country’s leading business organisation.
The net zero economy, which is worth more than £100bn a year, benefits all of the UK, according to the CBI Economics analysis commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, despite critics who want to abolish the UK’s net zero targets.
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Hogshaw, Derbyshire: We’re up to 27 spotted orchids in our garden, and every one is a miracle
When we moved to this house, we didn’t need the encouragement of No Mow May – the ecological campaign advocating restraint in the garden. Our old lawnmower was designed to tackle your average handkerchief and leaving nine-tenths of the new place uncut was a matter of necessity as much as self-control.
The highlight of last year’s non-labouring efforts addressed directly the whole meaning of no-mow gardening. Who knows what lies hidden in a uniform shorn expanse, unless it is allowed to express itself? A slender pink flower among the green swathe turned out to be a spotted orchid, the commonest, most widespread of our 54 UK species. With this as a search image, I eventually climbed to 16 spikes last year. That alone felt like a triumph.
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From cliff sides, coastal lookouts, kayaks or boats, people counted every dolphin they saw for at least 15 minutes to aid research into NSW’s populations
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Looking down the barrel of a telephoto lens, Dr Elizabeth Hawkins tells the dolphins circling the research boat to work it for the camera.
“That’s it,” she says, joking to her crew. “Show us some fin. Don’t be shy. How about some tail? Oh that’s good. The camera loves you.”
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‘Megafires’ in California, Canada, South Korea and Europe in 2025, but changes to farming slowed spread in parts of Africa
“Devastating” wildfires ripped across the wealthier parts of the world in 2025, a study has found, even as globally, the area ravaged by flames fell.
Catastrophic blazes claimed lives, homes and jobs last year in California, Canada, Europe and South Korea. But the 335m hectares burned was the second-lowest since 2002, the review found, largely owing to the expansion of African farms that have fragmented landscapes and hampered the spread of large savannah fires.
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Letting nature take over at a former dairy farm has resulted in a surge of species in just three years
Three years of rewilding on a former dairy farm in east Somerset have led to the number of recorded bird species soaring from 67 to 94, butterfly species rising from 11 to 24 and small mammals growing in number.
Heal Somerset, the first site acquired by the charity Heal Rewilding, has produced a state of nature report mirroring a national survey by environmental charities that has tracked the decline in nature.
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Seasonal wardens and netted fences are helping protect the rare ground-nesting birds that arrive each spring on the UK’s shores
On Ross Sands in Northumberland, a little tern has caught sight of a group of people and is sprinting across the beach. “It wants us to follow it,” says Andrew Craggs, senior manager at Lindisfarne national nature reserve. “It’s a diversionary thing – it’s got a scrape and it wants to take us away because it thinks we’re predators.”
Craggs is no predator, and he’s not after the scrape – a small pit the ground-nesting bird has dug into the sand to lay its eggs. He is a guardian of these little birds, as well as more than 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) of sand dunes, saltmarsh and mudflats that make up this tranquil nature reserve perched on the tip of England’s north-east coast.
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She had a passion for butterflies and would seek out rare ones, yet this was used against her by violent, money-grabbing husband. Now this pioneering naturalist’s story has been translated to today’s manosphere
‘There’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, or even what you might call in this case a hyperfocus,” psychiatrist Dr Godrick tells Eleanor Glanville in a claustrophobic therapy room.
Outside the Phoenix theatre in Hampshire, a summer heatwave is delivering perfect conditions for butterflies. Inside, a rather darker story is being rehearsed in air-conditioned gloom. Butterfly, a new play, shines a light on one woman’s passion for butterflies and how it is turned against her when she became trapped in an abusive relationship.
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The insatiable horseshoe whip snake has become an existential threat to the Ibiza wall lizard
Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.
Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.
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Many of those who love spending time in Britain’s green places say it is awe-inspiring, calming and therapeutic
As a recent study revealed almost half of UK adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, we asked readers to tell us about what being outside means to them.
The replies – heartfelt and passionate – came flooding in, with some admitting they just did not have the words to say how important it is.
Continue reading...IAVI, Moderna and the University of Oxford are all working on new vaccines.
BBC Panorama has seen documents and spoken to former midwives from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The drug, daraxonrasib, has been hailed as a breakthrough in managing the deadliest of all the major cancers.
Sudden cardiac death can happen without warning, and it's not just a problem for sporty young men, say experts.
A new DNA test could help screen whether patients require the treatment or not, according to a new international trial.
The White House releases the results of the US president's latest medical examination, which states he is "fully fit" to carry out his duties.
The plans are part of a government bill to modernise the NHS in England, which is currently going through parliament.
Only men with a dangerous genetic variant and a family history of cancer should be offered screening, say UK advisors.
Live births in England and Wales are at their lowest since 1977, while the age of first-time mothers has also risen.
British Medical Association resident doctor members in England announce new strike for four days from 15 June.
Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
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.
