ZAGREB, Dec 12, 2020 - Although it is a small country, Croatia must be a country with great climate ambitions, President Zoran Milanovic wrote on his Facebook account on Saturday, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the Paris Climate Agreement.

"The climate crisis is still our biggest challenge, and taking urgent and ambitious measures is the only guarantee for the preservation of health, progress and prosperity," the Croatian president writes.

In this context he called for great climate ambitions and for raising awareness of that climate protection and economic growth can go hand in hand.

The head of state also appealed for making courageous strides towards energy transition.

"In the years to come we can make Croatia a leader in energy transition in southeast Europe."

I see the climate crisis as a test to the credibility, humanity and solidarity which we must pass, since the future of all of us is green or we will not have it, he added.

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015, and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

In ten days, repairs will begin on a damaged section of the Čiovo seaboard in Trogir. Therefore, Čiovo residents will finally have seventy meters of their damaged and destroyed seaboard repaired, but repairs won't be enough, the city's mayor warns.

Trogir is a historic town and harbor on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, and has a total municipal population of 13,260. The historic city of Trogir is situated on a small island between the Croatian mainland and the island of Čiovo. It is located 27 kilometers west of the city of Split.

Trogir | Wikimedia Commons

The historic center of Trogir has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for its Venetian architecture since 1997.

“This investment is worth around 500,000 HRK (67,100 EUR). We had a problem with a ship which was illegally docked, but we have resolved it and the project should be finished in three months. In addition, we plan to make additional improvements the seaboard, port authority and town square,” said Ante Bilić, the mayor of Trogir.

Both the Čiovo and Trogir shorelines ended up underwater twice last year, in November and December. Many other Dalmatian cities have been experiencing similar fates according to HRT on January 9, 2020. Extreme windstorms (Bora), heavy rainfall and a sudden rise in sea level could be disastrous for coastal areas.

“It has happened in the past, but not as frequently. This can hardly be solved by raising the seaboard level because flooding also occurs from catchment and stormwater. We need to discuss these issues at the state level and with ministry of the environment, because this is everyone’s problem,” explained Mayor Bilić.

Scientists have been warning that sea levels could rise from 40 to 120 centimeters in the next hundred years. Without serious investment into preventative projects, the question is who will end up in the "front row to the sea."

Follow our Lifestyle page for updates on environmental concerns and the effects of climate change in Croatia.

Climate change has become an all to familiar topic over the last few years, with many naysayers and those who didn't believe such a thing was happening beginning to see the sometimes enormous changes in the world's weather.

Now that the environment and taking care of the planet has become a big part of people's everyday lives, from making sure to properly recycle to reducing the use of plastic, some more information arises from experts much closer to home, with two Croatian cities in particular in the unfortunate spotlight as the world warms up.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of August, 2019, leading climatologists Lidija Srnec and Branko Grisogono have warned on Dnevnik about the impact of climate change that we may not yet feel, but the impact it could have is much more than alarming.

''We have already reached one degree higher since the industrial period, ie, at the end of the nineteenth century. What we want to prevent is the temperature continuing to rise and, under the Paris Agreement, we would like it to stop somewhere up to 1.5 degrees. What is known today is that if we do not stop with these greenhouse gas emissions, those 1.5 degrees will be reached by 2030,'' warned Lidija Srnec from the Climatology Service of the State Hydrometeorological Institute.

"It has been shown that sea levels are rising and that the sea level can be expected to rise between 35 and 60 centimeters by the end of this century," Srnec noted.

Land penetration in this case could completely destroy agriculture in numerous Croatian locations, on both islands and on the mainland, from Istria all the way down to central Dalmatia.

"The Mirna river in Istria is in a rather dangerous situation, as are low-lying coasts such as those of Lošinj, Hvar, Ston, Trogir and even Zadar," Grisogono warned.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If you're interested in how Croatia takes care of its environment, give Total Eco Croatia a follow.

Because the negative impact of climate change today is visible to everyone, Varaždin has decided to participate in the city’s first ever ‘Climathon’.