Croatian cities are planning to implement large greening projects, including planting of about 33,000 trees, development of urban gardens, and construction of public drinking fountains.

Forty-six greening projects, worth over €15 million, have been approved under the first public call issued by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, which has secured €11 million in grants for this purpose.

The Fund has told Hina that there is a great interest in such projects and that the budget will need to be increased. A new public call is expected to be issued by summer.

“The aim is to invest in urban green infrastructure and thus help alleviate the impact of and adapt to increasingly pronounced climate change. This will also improve people’s quality of life,” said Luka Balen, Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.

This is also provided for under the European Green Deal and the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, which envisages planting of at least 3 billion additional tress across the European Union.

Croatia has undertaken to plant about a million additional trees a year.

Most of the projects approved relate to the greening of urban and suburban areas where about 33,000 seedling trees are planned to be planted.

A total of 3,000 trees will be planted in Stari Jankovci, 2,510 in Vukovar, 2,200 in Babina Greda, 1,600 in Trpinja, 1,000 each in Zadar, Labin, Virovitica and Čakovec, and 900 in Split. Pula plans to plant 492 trees and 3,807 shrubs.

According to the United Nations, 55% of the world population lives in cities and their share is projected to increase to as much as 68% by 2050.

In Croatia, nearly 60% of people live in urban areas, and a quarter of the population lives in the four largest cities: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek.