June 3, 2022 - The first Cres Fringe Festival had its grand opening on May 30 on Croatia's largest island with a varied and rich cultural and artistic programme. The festival is set to continue until this Sunday, and attendees can still enjoy its diverse content until then.

The Cres Fringe Festival is a festival that connects, educates, and supports performers, all kinds of art, music, culture, filmmakers, artists, and locals. But it‘s more than this. There are fringe festivals all over the world, with the first one being the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which started 70 years ago. The Cres Fringe Festival is one of a kind as it is the very first in Croatia, the only difference is the kind of art, the compilation, and its singularity. The Cres Fringe Festival is running in parallel to the Creski Kaić, which takes place on the main square of the city, while the Cres Fringe Festival present its shows in different venues around the city of Cres.

Those who attend will have the chance to connect with artists, producers, and many interesting people from diverse backgrounds. Lots of international performers, drag shows, singers and artists are currently in the city of Cres. In addition, visitors be able to attend a film festival whose programme revolves around the pandemic and the psychological effects produced as a result of it. Likewise, attendees will not just be spectators, since they'll also have the opportunity to share, perform and celebrate their own art. Numerous exhibits will be available at the festival, as will street art, and attendees can also visit the marketplace to buy handmade goods, traditional art, photos, and designs.

International performers and artists, such as Deaby De Lux, will be present at various venues around the city of Cres.

If you are at the Cres Fringe Festival, you can also attend different workshops, presentations, and discussion panels. An entertainment programme is also guaranteed, with the possibility of seeing shows, the circus, cabaret, and much more. The festival will also allow those from abroad to get better acquainted with Croatian culture up close, as well as many other types of cultural exchanges. As if that weren't enough, those present can win prizes throughout each day as well. Finally, considering the great weather at this time of the year, Cres Fringe Festival attendees will be able to enjoy a great location on a beautiful Croatian island, excellent food and drinks, and the gorgeous sea around Kvarner Bay.

You can go home with a tattoo done at the Festival itself!

Additionally, there will be a tattoo artist at the festival for those who wish to take home a unique and very permanent ''souvenir'', as well as a live artist, who will draw the attendees or even the artists while they perform on stage, finishing their incredible drawings in small time frames of between 3 and 5 minutes.

The organisers are also pleased to announce that this year, the Cres Fringe Festival has been held in collaboration with the European Burlesque and Variety Congress.

The talented Koes Komo will be in charge of portraying attendees and artists in less than five minutes.

One might wonder why all this would take place on the island of Cres, of all places. The answer lies in the fact that the island the founder's home, and she always dreamed of bringing more art and diversity to the island while also doing something for the local residents there. Those behind the organisation of the first-ever Cres Fringe Festival want to start the season earlier, bringing more people to the island and the city, as it‘s an opportunity for property owners on Cres to accommodate people by renting out their apartments and houses for the duration of the festival.

Cres, Croatia's largest island and one of the most beautiful, is ready to become a hotspot for Fringe tourism.

Those who benefit will be not only property owners but also venue owners, who will be able to have world-class entertainment and performers at their venues, completely organised by the festival's producers.

Among the main venues of the Cres Fringe Festival are Arsan, Luna Rossa, Cine Cres, Vina Miramar, and Plavica Bar.

The organising team for the first Cres Fringe Festival includes Croatian founder and producer Celeste de Moriae, and her co-producers Amanda Blyth from the UK, Sylwester Biraga from Poland, and Wini Di from the Netherlands. Also part of the team are Larisa Štefančić from Croatia and Magenta Lust from Scotland, as well as Miss Botero from France as a consultant.

As part of the objectives of the organisers, it's worth highlighting the intention to promote and grow fringe tourism in the country and thus be part of the World Fringe Community. But, above all, the aim is to attract more tourists and make both the island and the city of Cres more popular destinations by bringing a unique world event to the island.

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October 25, 2021 - Ten fully recovered griffon vultures were released back to nature on Monday from the sanctuary in Beli on the island of Cres.

All of the birds are the chicks hatched this year in the nests built on the east-facing steep cliffs near Beli on Cres. Their first flights didn't really end well, so they landed in the sea and were rescued thanks to the dedication of the local community and nautical and other tourists, who reported their falls to the employees of the Visitors centre and sanctuary for griffon vultures. The gang of ten released today have interesting names: Tarej, Ledenko, Špilja, Poskok, Alpioniscus, Harpactia, Kristal, Duga, Zlatan and Stalaktit.

The sanctuary is managed by the Public Institution "Priroda", owned by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. In the five years since they've been in charge 51 recovered vultures were given another lease on life.

Four of the griffon vultures were provided with special instruments which will record their movements after the release. The cooperation between the Priroda Institution and the BIOM Association has lasted for years, and they've been supplying the GPS trackers for the Cres Vultures through their various projects.

The director of the Priroda Institution Irena Jurić told the Croatian Radiotelevision that the GPS tracking, in addition to providing valuable info on the vultures' movements, repeatedly allowed the scientists to rescue the vultures who have found themselves in dire straits - again. For instance, the vulture named Kvarner was released in 2018, after being saved on Cres, only to be saved again in Italy when it was noticed that he wasn't moving. After a long recovery, he was once more released and is currently living a happy life in France.

The Zagreb Zoo has been supporting the Beli Sanctuary since its inception, with its expertise and veterinary care. Damir Skok, the Zagreb Zoo director said that modern zoos have a large role in the education of the public, especially when it comes to the preservation of the protected species.

Thanks to the combining the methods of putting rings on the birds and the GPS following, the scientists know that one of the vultures from Cres named Vranac was noticed near Vienna in June, Marin V. was seen near Udine ten days after being released, Barbara was registered in the Austrian Alps and Taras made a round from the north of Poland to the Sisak-Moslavina County.
 

These days, the griffon vultures only make their nests in Croatia on the islands of Cres, Krk, Prvić and Plavnik. That's why a lot of effort is put into preserving the endangered majestic species of birds.

May 14, 2021 - ŽLU Cres director Anton Opatić gives insight into the season ahead and what the island of Cres can offer nautical guests. 

What results did ŽLU Cres achieve in the field of nautical tourism last year? What are the expectations for this season?

Although the nautical season in 2020 lasted shorter than in previous years, Croatia recorded only slightly lower income than in 2019, thanks to epidemiological measures that we adjusted in time, which helped us better organize for the season. The same situation was in the ports of the island of Cres. Compared to the previous year, ŽLU Cres in 2020 generated about 60% of revenues, precisely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current year, we expect an increase in traffic.

Do you think that nautical tourism will be largely responsible for "saving" the tourist season this year as well?

Compared to other forms of tourism, nautical tourism last year proved to be the most resilient to the changes and challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. We believe that good results will be achieved in this sector this year, which will greatly contribute to the overall tourism results. Nautics is extremely resistant to Covid-19, which is why it is crucial to continue investing in its additional development along the entire Adriatic coast, including the island of Cres, which we at ŽLU Cres will continue to insist on to develop island tourism further.

What is the nautical offer of ŽLU Cres? How many ports and berths does it have?

The County Port Authority of Cres manages six ports: Cres, Merag, Porozina, Martinšćica, Valun, and Beli and has 627 berths total, of which about 90 are nautical. The largest number of nautical berths is located in the town of Cres, where the largest revenues from nautical tourism are generated.

What does ŽLU Cres do in terms of improving the port infrastructure?

In the town of Cres, the project "Reconstruction and extension of the western part of Cres port" is in the final phase, which will ensure a better connection between the island population of Cres and the islets of the Cres archipelago. The project's total value is almost 40 million kuna, of which the Central Agency for Financing and Contracting of EU Programs and Projects and the Ministry of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure have awarded grants for about 34 million kuna. The project built a breakwater 185 meters long and 6 meters wide, with an operational shoreline for liner passenger ships. The coastal access pedestrian road to the city center was reconstructed and extended. The plan is to continue investing in the Cres port infrastructure worth 80 million kuna, more specifically in the ports of Valun and Martinšćica, which will create preconditions for further development of nautical tourism and increase the number of liner passenger vessels.

What can the island of Cres offer to its guests?

The island of Cres is the largest Croatian island, and its location and facilities have always been interesting to many visitors. Places located on the shores of the island of Cres are especially interesting for sailing enthusiasts, and continuous investment in the maintenance and quality of ports under the jurisdiction of ŽLU Cres are our priorities and key guidelines for further development. Apart from the town of Cres, where tourism is the most developed and offers a rich historical and cultural heritage and gastronomic specialties, it is definitely worth mentioning the settlements of Beli, Martinšćica, and Valun, which are also very visited by lovers of history, culture, and nature.

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ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović visited Cres Island on Wednesday and the local cheese factory that is run by the Loznati agricultural cooperative, the construction site for the Orlec solar power plant, the refurbished Moise Palace and the reconstructed port in the town of Cres.

During his visit to the Loznati cheese factory, Milanović was informed that its new plant was waiting for an official inspection and permit to launch operations and the production of sheep and goat cheese.

The Loznati cooperative has a flock of about 350 sheep and it plans to attract other local sheep farmers to join the cooperative. A total of HRK 5.5 million was invested in the cheese factory, with HRK 2 million of that being a grant from the EU Rural Development Programme, HRK 2.5 million from a loan with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and the remaining HRK 1 million invested by the cooperative itself.

The President then visited the  HRK 45 million Orlec solar power plant.

The project was presented to the President by a member of the management board of the HEP national electricity provider, Petar Sprčić, the director of the Kvarner regional energy agency and member of the president's energy council, Darko Jardas and others.

The area of the future power plant covers 17.3 hectares divided into 13 segments and each will have a power of 500 kilowatts and a total installed power of 6.5 megawatts.The plant is expected to generate almost 8.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year which is sufficient to supply 2,000 average households.

Milanović said that visiting the power plant was the "most important element of his visit to Cres."

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October 20, 2020 - The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has launched an environmental impact assessment procedure for the Matalda golf course on Cres Island.

HRTurizam reports that it is a long-awaited project for constructing a golf course, with a total value of over 100 million euro, and whose investor is Jadranka d.d. from Mali Lošinj.

As it is pointed out in the public invitation, the construction of a combined golf course in five phases is planned and facilities for catering and tourist facilities and other facilities on about 324 hectares.

Thus, two golf courses with a total of 36 holes are planned, as well as two hotels, a winery, and 20 villas in two zones. The hotel will have a total of 122 accommodation units with 260 beds, while another hotel is planned with 57 accommodation units with 126 beds. Both hotels would have indoor and outdoor pools. Villas in zone A will have a total of 92 beds, and villas in zone B, 80.

In addition to the accompanying buildings and facilities, it is planned to build a winery with a tasting room for guests on three floors, which will offer local wines. In addition to the construction of roads and piers for maritime transport, the complex would also have a heliport. What is important to emphasize is that the irrigation of the golf course plans to use water from the lake, which would be carried out on an area of 3ha with a capacity of 165 000m2.

Jadranka d.d.

The public invitation points out that it will organize a public debate on the study on the Matalda golf course's environmental impact on the island of Cres, which must not be shorter than 30 days. Notice of the place and time of the public hearing will be published on the Ministry's website.

The entire preparation of the project started back in 2014. In December 2018, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Assembly accepted targeted changes to the spatial plan. The same project was included among the "Buildings and interventions of the county and state interest."

According to previous announcements, Jadranka d.d. intends to invest around 100 million euro in this golf course project. The design of the course is signed by Ernie Els, a world name that attracts big and famous players to golf destinations.

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September 29, 2020 - If you are looking for a perfect autumn atmosphere, the island of Cres is waiting for you. The oldest oak tree Medunac, caves, and griffon vultures are just a few things that you can expect on your visit to this part of Kvarner Bay.

As Turistickeprice.hr writes, one of the attractions of the island of Cres, which is the most interesting in the fall, is the wooded area of Tramuntana, in the northern part of the island of Cres. The area of the Tramuntana forest is almost 5,500 hectares, and it represents an important natural heritage. The vegetation of this area consists of forests of tall oak, hornbeam, and chestnut. The oldest Medunac oak tree was declared a protected natural monument in 1997.

One of the most famous oak Medunac is located in the hamlet of Sveti Petar. Due to its age and appearance and the large cavities in the body, various stories and legends are woven around it that you will probably be able to learn from the locals or at the Visitor Center in Beli. Anyone who has had a chance to see the beauty of this tree before it has been ravaged by several storms in recent decades and has broken most of its branches and top of the canopy is likely to be disappointed with today’s appearance of the tree. However, the tree still looks impressive and will probably withstand future weather and other adversities for a long time.

Experience the magnificent silhouette of a griffon vulture in flight

Watching the flight of griffon vultures in Kvarner is a unique experience. Vultures most often fly in groups, hardly flapping their wings and searching for food for hours, which is very attractive for bird watchers and all visitors to the island. They cross great distances with ease, and their appearance in the air or on one of the island's cliffs leaves no one indifferent.

Vultures are charismatic birds. Although they may not look attractive at first glance, the fact is that they have shared living space with people over a long history and have become part of folk tales and legends, taking on an important ecological and cultural role in the island space. Their charisma is also proven by the fact that they are considered a symbol of the island of Cres. Anyone who visits Cres and the Kvarner islands must look up at the sky, searching for the magnificent silhouette of a griffon vulture in flight.

Griffon Vulture | Photo by Romulic and Stojcic

The caves are hiding 12,000-year-old skeletons

There are numerous caves and pits on Tramuntana. Some of them are especially important for biospelological, paleontological, and prehistoric studies. Four skeletons of a 12,000-year-old brown cave bear were found in the Campari pit (Baniceva cave), a unique speleological object, near the village of Petricevi. These are the only such complete skeletons in this part of Europe.

Eco trails former roads that connected villages

The first educational eco-trail on the island of Cres that leads through the Tramuntana area takes you through a total of 20 stations marked by stone sculptures by the academic sculptor Ljubo De Karina. The verses of Andro Vid Mihicic, a great poet, patriot, and thinker born in Beli, are engraved on them. A network of instructive eco-trails has been established in the Tramuntana forest area. Along the trails, numerous labyrinths are designed to become a means of re-establishing the communication between Man and the Spirit of Nature.

In Tramuntana, there are a total of 7 pedestrians, the so-called eco trails that pass through the former roads that connected the now-abandoned villages and pastoral apartments on Tramuntana, seven hiking trails, and three bike trails. Experience the wilderness, meet sheep, turtles, griffon vultures. Go around the labyrinths, pass the paths surrounded by walls, and just follow the marked points.

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July 13, 2020 - In their first venture to the Croatian coast, Rešetka's summer menu brings fine-dining quality to seaside streets in 2020

Sometimes you just want a burger, a sandwich, or something you can just eat from your hands. But, just because you haven't got the time or can't be bothered with the faff of fine dining, that doesn't mean you're volunteering for a drastic drop in quality.

That's where Rešetka comes in. Street food providers renowned for sourcing and selling only quality meats, the grill specialists have been a highlight of Zagreb Burger Fest and several pop-ups in recent times. This summer, the experience that has won over the Croatian capital's burger connoisseurs can be found instead along the coast.

Rešetka owner Nikola Božić has embarked on the summer venture with chef Katarina Vrenc. You'll be able to find their new concept 'Fine Street Food by Reshetka & Katarina Vrenc' at several pop-up locations along the Adriatic this summer. They'll be visiting Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, including the islands of Cres and Pag.


Rešetka and Đurina Hiža are renowned for using only high quality, locally sourced produce within their dishes including, this year, beef from a hybrid of Japan's famed wagyu and Holstein, sourced from the first range herd of its kind in Croatia © Rešetka

With a commitment to cooking only with high quality, locally sourced produce and ingredients, the team is known to use premium meats and seafood for their dishes. This year they will offer beef from a hybrid of Japan's famed wagyu and Holstein, sourced from the first range herd of its kind in Croatia. Within a summer menu that combines the best of continental and coastal Croatian ingredients, you'll also find superior snacks such as rich pork belly paired with octopus.

Nikola Božić is also the proprietor of Đurina Hiža near Varaždinske Toplice. As recently covered in TCN, thanks to some quick and positive thinking, though the restaurant closed for a while in the Coronavirus lockdown, Nikola was able to adapt his business in order to remain successful during the period; relying on high quality, locally sourced ingredients, he became a bridge between the small producers he'd spent time finding, and those shopping online from their homes. Their 'Deda Goes Around the World' service delivered meats and other produce throughout Croatia during the restaurant's temporary closure.

If you're planning to visit Dubrovnik, Biograd, Pula, Premantura or Split this summer and can't face another pizza slice, kebab or burger of questionable origin, be sure to look out for the Rešetka logo. Fine Street Food by Reshetka & Katarina Vrenc will visit Plavica Bar on island Cres on 7 & 8 August and the Michelin-starred Boškinac on Pag in the middle of September. Further inland, they'll also be available at the High Grounds Festival in Varaždinske Toplice on 31 July, 1 & 2 August. Grab yourself a handful of delicious food and pick a spot to watch the stunning Croatian sunset, the Adriatic coast and its breathtaking backdrop has long been lacking exactly this standard of street food to accompany.


© Rešetka

Kvarner's tourist traffic numbers continue their upward trajectory. The Kvarner region, located in Northwestern Croatia, finished 2019 with 3.1 million arrivals and 19.1 million overnight stays. Compared to 2018, there were 2% more arrivals and 1% more overnights. Overnights also increased by 3% compared to 2017, 13% compared to 2016 and 50% compared to 2010.

During peak season, overnight stays remained at last year's levels, with an average occupancy of 25 days, and 30 days at hotels. That means that there wasn't a lot of room for growth during the the busiest season of the year, according to MorskiHR on January 8, 2020. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that overnight more stays increased by 1% during pre-season, while the post-season overnight stays increased by 4%. The increase in overnights during pre and post-season is more significant when compared with results from 2010, and it shows that overnights during these times of the year increased by 90%, according to the tourist board.

Germany Traditionally Strongest Market

In 2019, 630,000 German guests visited the Kvarner region, resulting in almost 4.7 million overnight stays. This figure has certainly been influenced by the large number of promotions directed toward the German market.  In addition to Germany, three more markets have reached more than one million overnights: Slovenia (3 million), Austria (1.8 million) and Italy (1.3 million). The share of foreign traffic for these four countries is nearly 70%.

Kvarner’s inclusion on group tour routes which take guests from distant markets to Europe has also resulted in a large increase in traffic from these markets. In the last 3 years, guests from China have almost tripled their number of overnight stays while US citizens have increased their overnights by 50%.

Guests from the United Kingdom are also worth mentioning. They spent 137,000 overnights in Kvarner which is 25% increase from 2018, and 44% increase from 2016! Foreign tourists account for 85% of overnight stays and domestic tourists 15% (3 million nights, an increase of 5%). 

Mali Lošinj

Most Guest Overnights on Island of Krk

Among the subregions, the island of Krk is in the lead, with an increase of 1% and 7 million overnights (and has a 36% share of total overnights in Kvarner).

The Crikvenica-Vinodol Riviera ranks second (3.2 million) followed by the island of Losinj (2.4 million). The number of overnight stays continues as follows: the Opatija Riviera and the island of Rab (2.2 million), the island of Cres (1.1 million), the Rijeka area (925,000) and Gorski Kotar (110,000). The highest percentage increase in overnight stays (14%) was recorded in the Rijeka area.

Mali Losinj (2.4 million nights) and Crikvenica (2.2 million nights) are among the "best" destinations.

Guests Prefer Croatia Family Accommodations

Family accommodations accounted for 40% of recorded overnight stays (7.7 million). Campsites and hotels recorded almost the same number of total overnights: 3.7 million each with individual shares of 19%. 

The highest increase in overnights was recorded in upper-category accommodations:

• Hotels generally realized 1% more overnights. However, 4 and 5-star hotels enjoyed a 6% increase.
• All family accommodations experienced a 1% increase in overnight stays, but 5-star family accommodations enjoyed a 38% increase!
• A similar scenario applies to campsites: there was an overall 1% decrease in overnight stays, but overnights at 5-star camps are up 22%.

Regardless of the type, 5-star facilities have seen 15% increase in overnight stays during the past year and 70% increase overnight over the last 3 years!

Cres

Nautical Tourism Overnights Up Thirty-Two Percent

These figures do not include 24,500 arrivals and 156,000 overnight stays due to nautical traffic, which in has increased by as much as 32% the last year alone. There are about 20 nautical tourism ports in Kvarner, and Marina Punat alone accounts for more than half of nautical overnights.

Kvarner Third to Istria and Split-Dalmatia in Accommodation Capacity

As of 2019, there are 190,000 permanent beds available for tourists in Kvarner which represent a 17% share in accommodation capacity within Croatia. The Kvarner region ranks third in terms of total available accommodation, which is behind Istria and Split-Dalmatia counties in Croatia. 

Irena Peršić Živadinov, Director of the Kvarner Tourist Board, emphasizes that the primary goal is to strengthen the pre and post-seasons, because one cannot always count on a record “peak” season.

Kvarner Tourist Board Expects Long-Term Increase

“In recent years, the Kvarner region has definitely succeeded in strengthening the pre and post-seasons. Compared 2010 to 2019, we have seen a huge increase in overnight stays during both seasons - almost 90%! Over the past 10 years, we have invested in the quantity and quality of the regions’ offerings. We have also focused on joint branding and activities and recognized our strengths regarding products and offerings."

“These steps probably won’t yield immediate results but will take a longer time to have an effect. Taking that into consideration, for example, 12.7 million overnight stays were recorded in 2010, it is clear that in a period of 9 years we have realized 6.3 million more overnights, or the total number of overnights in Kvarner ha increased by almost 50%,” Peršić Živadinov points out.

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The desire is to breathe some life into, and renew the old tradition of island sheep farming on the island of Cres in the Kvarner region through cooperation with local OPGs and cheese factories.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of April, 2019, in the village of Loznati on the beautiful island of Cres on Monday, construction began on the Loznati agricultural cooperative.

As the co-manager Bruno Žic explained, their goal is to restore old fame to island livestock breeding and continue to maintain the tradition of sheep farming that has been present on the island of Cres for a great many years.

"In the seventies during the last century, this place had a cheese factory and we decided to make our contribution to the preservation of that tradition. The Loznati agricultural cooperative is a small family cooperative, we have seven members and we're open to cooperate with small OPGs and cheese producers. Our desire is to bring as many people back to sheep farming as we can, we're very ambitious and we will try to restore the former numbers,'' stated Žic.

As he claims, the capacity is 500 litres of milk per shift, ie an impressive 1000 litres per day, and the value of the investment stands at 5.600.000 kuna.

"Of the total investment, two million kuna is non-refundable because we have secured it through EU funds, and the remainder is partly our money and partly from an HBOR loan," added Žic.

When construction works are completed, the Cres site will occupy a total area of ​​540 square metres.

Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić was present at the opening ceremony on Cres.

The Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb has dealt with the technology for us, and on that basis we started to realise the whole project and the [involved] works. The HACCP standards required in production will be implemented here with us, and the cheese factory itself will be a combination of modern and traditional. We tried not to ruin the looks of the village,'' concluded Žic.

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Click here for the original article by Marta Duic for Poslovni Dnevnik

The Clean Energy Secretariat on EU islands held an energy transition workshop attended by representatives from the Croatian islands of Brač, Cres, Hvar, Korčula and Lošinj last week.

As Morski writes on the 18th of March, 2019, Croatian islands officially launched an energetic transition up and down the coast. Back at the beginning of February this year, the Secretariat's initiative for clean energy for the EU's islands, which was initiated by the Croatian MEP Tonino Picula, announced a list of 26 European island communities that will receive expert and advisory support for the energy transition strategy in the coming period, writes Pokret otoka (Island movement).

Among the 26 selected islands are four Croatian island communities: The Cres-Lošinj archipelago and Brač, Hvar and Korčula. The two-day workshop, organised with the cooperation of the cities of Cres and Mali Lošinj, the OTRA Island Development Agency, LAG Kvarner Islands and Pokret otoka (Island movement) as local partners, gathered forty representatives of selected islands that, with expert assistance, will set the first foundations of energy transition plans. The gathering took place last weekend and this is the first of a total of ten workshops which will be carried out by the Secretariat for the EU islands in the forthcoming period.

Representatives of transition teams from all five islands participated in the workshop in Mali Lošinj, which will work on strategy development in cooperation with partners and experts in the coming period. The goal of the two-day workshop, besides transferring knowledge and experiences from different areas, has also been gathering, networking and strengthening the island's stakeholders for further cooperation in the energy transition process.

The Cres-Lošinj archipelago, set as one of the six European pilot projects, should have its energy transition plan should be ready by the end of summer 2019. The remaining twenty islands, including Brač, Hvar and Korčula, will have their plans in place by 2020. Despite the abundance of renewable energy sources, many islands currently depend on fossil fuels and energy imports from the mainland. The transition to clean energy can help the islands not only become more self-reliant and prosperous, but also open up new opportunities for employment in their communities and encourage further direct development of the islands.

The other islands that will be pilot projects in the initiative are the Irish Islands, Sifnos in Greece, Salina in Italy, La Palma in Spain and Culatra in Portugal. Twenty other islands will follow their development and enjoy the suppor of experts in the same direction. An expert team of the Secretariat for the islands will produce guides to initiate energy transition, encourage community involvement and discuss project financing in the forthcoming period.

Croatian islanders will have the opportunity to cooperate with each other, create a network of good practices, educate themselves and and participate in various events. It is important to emphasise the fact that the whole initiative is based on the "bottom up" approach, and the primary principle of transition success is based on the involvement of all local community stakeholders, which include the representatives of local self-government units, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, and of course civic initiatives.

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Click here for the original article by Ana Marija Jakas for Pokret otoka (Island movement)