ZAGREB, 11 June (Hina) - The Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU) will send a proposal to the Government and Parliament asking them to declare the wider area of Kopacki rit (a marsh in the Croatian Danube river region) a
national park. The proposal is the result of today's meeting held in the Academy building in Zagreb.
ZAGREB, 11 June (Hina) - The Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences
(HAZU) will send a proposal to the Government and Parliament asking them
to declare the wider area of Kopacki rit (a marsh in the Croatian Danube
river region) a national park. The proposal is the result of today's
meeting held in the Academy building in Zagreb. #L#
The meeting was organised by the Academy's Scientific Council for
Protection of Nature and HAZU's Institute for Scientific Research from
Osijek.
Kopacki rit is the habitat of several very rare species of flora
and fauna, which have been the object of interest of many scientists
since the middle of the 19th century, said Joszef Mikuska of the Osijek
Faculty of Pedagogy in his speech on the national and international
importance of Kopacki rit.
This unique ecological system, Mikuska said, is the habitat of 60
kinds of butterfly and 44 kinds of fish, as well as of numerous kinds of
birds, including the rare black stork and the white-tailed sea eagle as
well as a subspecies of egret, which so far lived only in the Persian
Gulf. Although it suffered damage, this nature's jewel has survived war
and occupation, Mikuska said.
A representative of the Culture Ministry, Eugen Draganovic, said
that the Kopacki rit proper, which covers the area of 7,220 hectares,
has the status of a special zoological reserve, which on the ladder of
protection is higher than national parks, and has to be preserved
unconditionally. The Ministry of Culture has suggested to the Government
that the wider Kopacki rit area should be declared a natural park,
Draganovic said.
(hina) rm jn
112338 MET jun 97