Europe & CIS

Landmark Report Warns of Climate Change Perils in Croatia

Zagreb, Croatia, February 2009-Tourism revenue will drop. Rivers and lakes will rise.  Killer heat waves will increase. These are among the dire predictions of a breakthrough report on the affects of climate change on Croatia. Published by the United Nations Development Programme, the report, “A Climate for Change,” assesses the impact of climate change on Croatia.

The report stresses that climate change is a development concern as well as an environmental one. With the help of analysis by the International Panel on Climate Change, the report demonstrates how climate change affects not only the environment, but also social and economic development. 

Climate models show Croatia will be hotter and drier within three decades. At the current rate of change, summers will be between 3 and 3.5 degrees warmer in Croatia starting in 2040.

As a result, loss of income by farmers and a higher cost of food will affect the larger economy. Additionally, tourism —presently 20 percent of Croatia’s gross domestic product— is expected to drop significantly due to hotter temperatures along the Adriatic coast. The coastal zone is also vulnerable to rising lakes and rivers, as are the Neretva Delta (home to one of the few remaining wetlands in Europe), the Krka River, Vrana Lake near Biograd, the island of Krapanj and other locations. Heat waves, such as the one that killed 185 Croatians in 2003, are also expected to increase.

 

“The excuse will be we should wait for better times,” the President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesić, said, acknowledging the current economic crisis. “Let us not fool ourselves: these better times will not come.”

 

Instead, he urged continued action to reduce the impact of climate change.

 

Croatia has already committed to reducing emissions by 5 percent from the baseline level of 36 million tonnes of emissions by 2012, as part of the Kyoto Protocol. It will also work toward a broader European Union goal of a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020.

 

The report also surveyed Croatians on public attitudes on climate change. One finding showed 68 percent of Croatians willing to pay more for electricity that does not emit greenhouse gases, a number higher than the EU average of 44 percent.

 

In addition to lifestyle changes, the report suggests the formation of high-level government committee to address pollution reduction and ways to adjust to climate change.

 

“We have to be aware of what is coming and we have to prepare ourselves,” President Mesić said. “We have to do whatever we can to adapt to the consequences of what we cannot prevent anymore, for we —all of us in the world—have been deaf and blind for too long before the signals that nature has been sending to us.”

 

To view a Croatian language press release for a "Climate for Change" please click here. 

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