Plenkovic: Healthy eco-systems cornerstone of our development

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic says in his video message to the UN summit dedicated to biodiversity that Croatia is a "hotspot" of biodiversity in Europe and underscores that healthy eco-systems are "cornerstones of our development".

"Altogether 38% of the land and 9% of our territorial sea in the Adriatic are part of the European ecological network Natura 2000 and nationally protected areas. With more than 1,000 islands, Croatia has the third longest coastline of the Mediterranean, and ranks third in Europe in terms of water reserves per capita," the Croatian premier said in the video message released on Wednesday.

"In addition, among almost 9,000 subspecies of Croatian flora, over 500 are endemic, and 12% are protected, whereas our fauna is rich in 24,000 species, among which almost 600 are endemic ones while 7% of them are protected."

 "For all those reasons, Croatia is a biodiversity hotspot of Europe," he underscored.

"Protection of natural capital is the basis for sustainable and inclusive growth."

"Without preserved eco-systems, none of this would be possible," he underscored.

Halting biodiversity loss and delivering an ambitious global biodiversity framework will require a whole of society approach, Plenkovic said.

He informed the UN that Croatia "is working on a new national development strategy until 2030 which will set ambitious orientation towards carbon-neutral, resilient and nature positive economy." 

"Our goal is to ensure green and digital transition by promoting clean energy, green and blue investments in circular economy."

Croatia's priorities are "conservation and restoration of biodiversity, food self-sufficiency, and smart mobility and connectivity," the PM added.

"Small, open economies like ours will have a chance to be transformed faster into a low-carbon and sustainable economy supported by clean technologies."

When it comes to clean energy, the European Union set goals that until 2020, 20% of energy must be generated from the renewables, and 30% until 2030.

Plenkovic said that with 28% of its energy coming from the renewable sources, his country is already above that target for 2020, and "we have already reached the 30% target for 2030."

"Therefore we intend to continue to be among the European leading countries in these transformational trends in the years to come."

"We are aware that healthy eco-systems are the cornerstones of our development and it is up to us to turn  development challenges into opportunities," he concluded.

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