The action to demine a part of The Park of Nature

KOPAČKI RIT

The Park of Nature Kopački rit

The Park of Nature "Kopački Rit" is a flooded area placed in the north-east part of the Croatia, in County of Osijek-Baranya. Situated in the corner formed by the rivers Drava and Danube,it is one of the biggest fluidal - swamp plaines in Europe. The main ecological features of the "Kopački Rit" are given by the dynamics of flooding, so that the appearance of the area largerly depends on the intensity of flooding at the particular time. The land and water parts, mosaically (randomly) spreaded, change it's size, shape and function in correspondance with the size of the flooded surface.
Big variety of vegetation present in "Kopački rit" is a result of specific micro-relief and constant flooding of the area. It's a unique combination of different type of forrest and swamp-aquatic vegetation present in the same place.
40 plant groups containig over 300 plant sorts shows just how ecologically versatile this area really is.
The Park of nature "Kopački Rit" has an area of 23.230 ha, inside of which is a Special zoo-reservation size of the 7.700 ha. The Park is under ecological protection since the year 1967. , which has been confirmed and extended to a wider area in the year 1999. when Croatian parliament passed the "Park of nature Kopački Rit" Law.
Apart from providing a unique expirience of nature for anybody that set foot in the Park, It is an exceptional example of genesis and evolution of swamp ecosystems and fllooded areas, making it one of the rare ecosystems in Europe.

The mines-issue

The War aftermath in Croatia is still gretaly omnipresent, and evident on all aspects of  people's lives and entire process of Croatian's development. Among many problems of those kind,the Mine-problematics stands out as one of the heaviest effects of war in this region. 
County of Osijek-Baranya is one of the counties with the largest number of mine-suspicious areas in Croatia. (The Park of nature "Kopački Rit" is situated in the County of Osijek-Baranya.)

HCR (Croatian center for deminig) DATA:

General County area: 4.194 km2 Mine suspicious area in the county: 209,5 km2

General Number of cities and districts in the county: 42

Number of cities and districts in the mine suspicious area: 19

Number of mine-explosive obstacles according to the mine logs: 987 Estimated number of mines: 51.688 (22.038 ant-infantry and 29.685 anti-armoured-vehicle mines)

By generally scouting the area of cities and districts in the county, the mine suspicious area has been defined, and it covers 209,5 km2, making that a 5% of the entire county area.

Mine suspicious area covers 19 cities and districts or 45,2 % of all of cities and districts in the county.

The biggest part of mine suspicious area is in district Bilje (60,9 km2) According to the structure and purpose of the areas which are mine-suspicious in County of Osijek-Baranya, they are divided in following categories: civil houses with their surroundings, infrastructual objects, agricultural surfaces, meadows and pastures, woods, surroundings of rivers , sikes and other water streams, park of nature and state border line.

DEMINING AREAS IN PARK OF NATURE "KOPAČKI RIT"

Around 3000 ha of the Special zoo-reservation in the Park is still considered to be mine suspicious area. Due to the constant change and growth of the vegetation throughout the year the area is becoming more unreachable, making the deminig process more and more complicated. All things considered, we have decided, in cooperation with the the Park's bord of management and Croatian centar for deminig , to initiate an action called "we DON'T like MINES", with the purpose to demine a part of the Park of nature "Kopački Rit".

Area of priority to demine:

Lake Sakadaš + Čonakut-Hordovanj canal

-the lenght of the route is around 4000 m
-the depth 100 m (south bank of the canal)

About the action

Through out the year, our intention is to organize a series of different humanitarian projects in order to collect the means and donations for demining the part of the "Kopački Rit". Along side this purpose, we hope to enrich the citizens of Osijek culturally as well.

We invite You to join us in our humanitarian action and intent, and to give Your support to the  action  "we DON'T like MINES" by your attendance or donation.
Thank You very much in advance.

Account holder and address for donations:

Rotaract Club Osijek
Europska avenija 6
31000 Osijek

Account number: 703015-val-1693018

Bank name: Slavonska banka d.d. Osijek


Park of nature "Kopački Rit"

Croatian Mine Action Center

Project Presentation (.pps)