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The Neretva Delta : Green Pearl of Coastal Croatia

The lower course of the Neretva river is a marshy valley. The unique landscape and the specific culture have made the Neretva delta an attraction for both Croatian and international tourists. It is also the area of the most intense man-made landscape transformation. In the Pleistocene, the region around the pressent river mouth of Neretva looked significantly different. In the eighteenth century, this region was beset by fever that grew particularly strong in autumn. It is known today that the Balkans once had Panonic and Mediterranean malaria zones and that the regions of Istria – Kvarner, Zadar, and Neretva were the foci of malaria in the coastal Croatia. Although the region of Neretva delta has always had an extraodinary biological and ecological importance, it is still relatively insufficiently explore. An important problem in this region is bird hunting, which is fa part of traditional culture and customs. In spite of the larg-scale disturbance of birds, as well as the destruction and degradation of wetland in the past and today the Delta of Neretva still presents a biologically valuable area. There are proposals to include the Neretva delta and its population into a future Nature Park to protect it from further devastation. The protection of natural resources should be combined with the needs of further development and it should take into account regional traditions.

Delta Neretva; birds; hunting; malaria; Pelecanus crispus; nature conservation; nature park; Croatia

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