On this page

1. Green volunteering
2. Green production and consumption

Green volunteering

Presently in the Republic of Croatia, there is no official strategy for green volunteering, which would be focused on the youth population.

This type of volunteering is organised by associations, organisations, towns, and municipalities, and some of the examples are:

• The project “Active Youth protecting nature and the environment” – organised by the Bioteka association in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, and Split. The project was co-funded by the former Ministry of Demographics, Family, Youth and Social Policy. The goal of the project was to empower youth to actively participate in the recognising and solving issues of environmental protection in local communities
• The “Green purge” and “Blue purge” projects – the largest volunteer one-day action of cleaning the environment, sea, and seabed in Croatia. The action was part of the global project Let’s do it! and “World Clean-up” yearly actions
• The “Recyclassics for our beautiful homeland” project – a project of manufacturing musical instruments from various sorts of waste aimed at all schools in the Republic of Croatia
• The “Most beautiful school garden” project – an eco-educational project which rewarded kindergartens, schools and other educational institutions for the labour of constructing the most beautiful garden, open-air classroom, and other eco-projects.

Green production and consumption

The Republic of Croatia is participating in the “Eco-school” international programme. The programme serves to implement educational guidelines on the level of educational institutions: kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, schools for students with disabilities, student homes and faculties. The goal of the programme is the incorporation of environmental education into all segments of the educational system and the everyday life of students and employees of Eco-Schools.

The national coordinator of the Eco-Schools in Croatia is the Association Lijepa naša. In Croatia, the Eco-school status has been awarded to 338 educational institutions:

• 90 kindergartens
• 199 primary schools
• 6 centres for education and training
• 39 secondary schools
• 2 student homes
• 2 institutions of higher education

The projects implemented within the Eco-school framework:

• The educational project “The Great plant hunt” started in the school year 2016/17. The organisers are the Foundation for Environmental Education and Toyota Motor Europe, along with The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the national coordinators of the Eco-schools programme in individual countries. In the school year 2017/18, 50 Eco-schools from Croatia are participating, through the Lijepa Naša association, the Eco-schools national coordinator in Croatia
• The contest “Eco quiz “Our beautiful homeland” has been implemented since 1992 by the Lijepa Naša association. The contest is implemented in primary and secondary Eco-schools.
• The national project “Eco-packaging” is aimed at children and youth with the purpose of educating them about the importance of properly managing TETRA PAK packaging and acting responsibly towards the environment. It is conducted by Eco-schools in Croatia, and the main communications channel is the webpage Eco-paket and Facebook
• The “We Eat Responsible” project was registered by the Lijepa Naša association in cooperation with 9 member countries of the Foundation for Environmental Education. The project encompasses 1800 teachers, 65 000 primary school students, 25 000 secondary school students and college students, and 100 000 parents and local community members
• Days of bread – fruits of the Earth thanksgiving days are an annual October project taking place in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, student homes, schools for students with disabilities, and branches of the Lijepa Naša association
• The Lijepa Naša association started a “Litter less” campaign which took place from 2011 to 2017 across 172 Eco-schools in Croatia. The campaign was implemented with the support of the Foundation for Environmental Education and the Wrigley Company Fundation