ZAGREB, October 5, 2018 – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović attended a conference on ecology and security in Zagreb on Friday, saying that these issues were important for the survival of states and the planet as a whole.
Today ecology and security are becoming so inextricably connected that over the next 10 to 20 years, according to UN forecasts, the number of migrants will increase from the present 69-70 million to 200 million because of global climate change, Kitarović told the conference, organised by the Večernji List newspaper.
She said that the issue of waste disposal was “one of the burning issues of the modern way of life.”
Grabar-Kitarović said that marine waste was becoming a growing threat and was affecting over 600 marine species. She added that Croatian coastal areas were also affected by this problem, mostly because of poor waste management in southern Adriatic countries. She said that countries must urgently deal with the growing problem of plastic pollution in the seas and oceans for the sake of future generations.
The president said that Croatia has been recognised worldwide as an attractive tourist destination because of its preserved environment, which has huge potential for economic development and prosperity, and because of the high level of security throughout the country. She stressed that environmental conservation was a common imperative for all state institutions, all economic entities and all citizens of Croatia.
She said that Croatia was seeing considerable changes in sea temperature and irreversible changes in ecosystems. In the Adriatic Sea, which is one of the cleanest in the world, scientists have registered over 20 new species of tropical fish which may upset the ecological balance, she added.
It is estimated that by 2100 the level of the Adriatic Sea will rise by almost half a metre and flood parts of historic cities such as Split, Trogir or Dubrovnik, the president said, emphasising that addressing climate change is not an abstract issue but one of vital interest that requires permanent and common attention.
