About Us
“...We dream about an active citizenry that builds a just society and lives sustainably on our planet...”
Green Istria is a non-profit citizen association which is committed to the protection of the environment and natural resources, and works to build a society that upholds principles of social justice. For 25 years Green Istria has actively participated in the building of a society that is sustainable in terms of democracy, solidarity, and the environment. Some of our key objectives are sustainable development and environmental democracy.
Green Istria is one of the leading environmental organizations in Croatia, speaking out on themes such as the unacceptability of planning an energy future based on fossil fuels, maritime domain privatization or coastal area destruction by massive construction of tourist infrastructure. Green Istria also advocates for participatory forms of governance of public goods and services as opposed to their privatization, and encourages public participation in decision-making processes. We focus our advocacy activities on state, regional and city government bodies and we built partnerships, coalitions and networks of civil society organizations around these topics to maximize impact.
Green Istria strives to be a barrier to unsustainable overexploitation policies and privatization of public goods and makes efforts to combat corruption in public administration and to support democratization processes. Public spaces and services need to be in the function of social development in the long run so we continue to raise public awareness of the negative economic, environmental and social consequences of selling public infrastructure as a commodity for the short-term debt recovery. In order to achieve that, we have sought to design and promote more effective participatory models of governance and oversight of public goods and services (participative public-civil management body of the Community Center Rojc and independent citizen oversight board of the Istrian County Waste Management Center).
Unfortunately, citizens still cannot rely on government and institutions for the protection of environmental rights, they must fight for them by organizing citizens' initiatives. In an effort to empower citizens in the pursuit of the right to a healthy environment through the right to information, participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice, Green Istria supports and advises a number of citizens' initiatives in Istria County, gaining recognition in the area. There is almost no citizens' initiative in Istria that does not turn to Green Istria for help.
We are active in the local community with our programmes, projects and awareness campaigns. Citizens of Istria County know us for our Green Phone service and numerous campaigns related to waste reduction and recycling; healthy food and urban gardening; as well as the protection of natural resources and biodiversity.
In addition to local activities and advocacy, Green Istria is also active on the national and international levels. We have supported and led campaigns on many cross-cutting themes, for example against: the construction of the Plomin C coal power plant; the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Adriatic sea (S.O.S. Adriatic); the privatization of public highways (Ne damo nase autoceste / We’re not giving our highways away); etc. Recently, Green Istria has been working on the theme of equitable and sustainable development on a global level, and on the issue of building more equitable relations between developed and developing countries.
Green Istria is a small but passionate and experienced team of professionals that work on a variety of projects, coordinate campaigns, and support many activists and volunteers.
March 30, 2020
"Activism is the rent I pay for living on the Planet.’’
--Alice Walker
