SPLIT, Oct 31 (Hina) - Dubrovnik-Neretva County in southern-most Croatia will sue Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina whence 65 percent of last summer's wildfires came, burning 16,000 hectares of Croatian territory. "We have no
inter-state agreements and we should sign them with these neighbouring countries as soon as possible. It is our right to seek compensation for the enormous damage because our neighbours take almost no care at all about fires in border areas with Croatia," prefect Ivan Sprlje said in Split on Tuesday. He addressed a meeting initiated by the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry which discussed ways of improving the protection of coastal forests from wildfires. Damage caused by wildfires is difficult to compensate and takes decades, said assistant minister Zeljko Rendulic. He expects the World Bank, whose representatives attended the meeting, will grant additional funds for the protect
SPLIT, Oct 31 (Hina) - Dubrovnik-Neretva County in southern-most
Croatia will sue Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina whence 65
percent of last summer's wildfires came, burning 16,000 hectares of
Croatian territory.
"We have no inter-state agreements and we should sign them with
these neighbouring countries as soon as possible. It is our right to
seek compensation for the enormous damage because our neighbours
take almost no care at all about fires in border areas with
Croatia," prefect Ivan Sprlje said in Split on Tuesday.
He addressed a meeting initiated by the Ministry for Agriculture
and Forestry which discussed ways of improving the protection of
coastal forests from wildfires.
Damage caused by wildfires is difficult to compensate and takes
decades, said assistant minister Zeljko Rendulic. He expects the
World Bank, whose representatives attended the meeting, will grant
additional funds for the protection of coastal forests.
Last summer's wildfires burned 68,000 hectares of ground
throughout Croatia, causing direct damage of 945 million kuna
($107.4 million), and indirect damage of a staggering 1.6 billion
($182 million), said Zeljko Ledinski, director of Croatian
Forests.
The damage is twice as high as his company's earnings, he added, and
said the company's funds were primarily directed at prevention.
In 1997, the World Bank granted Croatian Forests a $42 million loan,
of which 32.5 million have already been spent, primarily on
interior ministry fire protection equipment. The bank will be
requested to reprogram part of the funds for work on cutting through
forests to create fire-fighting pathways.
(hina) ha