Campaign on River Drava against its destruction
by gravel excavation and river regulation
Since 2003 Green Action has been participating
in an ongoing campaigning process against gravel excavation
and destruction of the river Drava by its devastating
regulation. On this campaign Green Action is working together
with WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the Drava League,
Euronatur and the Drava Federation from Hungary.
During this campaign the fact
sheet about gravel extraction and river regulation
as basic information material is being disseminated. In this
fact sheet it is stated that gravel extraction and river regulation
works are in contradiction with the conclusions of the Croatian
Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and Croatia's Biodiversity
Strategy. Also this means a violation of international conventions
to which Croatia has committed itself in order to protect
and restore the unique river ecosystem - among others also
Convention on Biological Diversity. Activities on the river
are also in conflict with EU environmental law: the EU Habitats
Directive (92/43/EEC), the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) and
the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and thus contradict
Croatia's ambitous program for EU approximation.
During the campaign we mostly do lobbying, public awareness
raising and direct actions. Since the beginning of the
campaign we have managed to win a few battles (closing
of the gravel excavation site near Varazdin, stopping
the recent public tender for excavation of further 2
million m3 of sediments from Drava), but unfortunately
the "war" is still on, till Croatian Government
does not put moratorium on sediment extraction from
the unique and valuable river Drava.
Recently we organized Little Tern County Tour in order
to promote importance of conservation of little tern
(Sterna albifrons), endangered species whose habitats
are directly threatened by the destruction of Drava
River. The event was organized in all county centers
in Croatia along the river Drava in the period from
30th May till 3rd June 2005. These activities received
a lot of media coverage and information material and
leaflet about little tern were disseminated to the local
inhabitants.
