NEKTARINA

(S)PACE

ISS

N 1

847-6

694

Apri

l 2013

Earth

Day

In this issue: The Plitvice Lakes,

Liveable Cities, Rivers in Urban

Areas, Supernatural Festival,

Wellgreen Lewes Skincare and more

Earth

Day

2013

Every year on April 22, more than one billion people take part in Earth

Day. Across the globe, individuals, communities, organizations, and

governments acknowledge the amazing planet we call home and take action to

protect it.

Climate change has many faces.

A man in the Maldives worried about relocating his family as sea levels

rise, a farmer in Kansas struggling to make ends meet as prolonged drought rav-

ages the crops, a fisherman on the Niger River whose nets often come up empty,

a child in New Jersey who lost her home to a super-storm, a woman in Bangla-

desh who can’t get fresh water due to more frequent flooding and cyclones… And

they’re not only human faces. They’re the polar bear in the melting arctic, the

tiger in India’s threatened mangrove forests, the right whale in plankton-poor

parts of the warming North Atlantic, the orangutan in Indonesian forests seg-

mented by more frequent bushfires and droughts…

Every person who does his or her part to fix the problem is also a Face of

Climate Change: the entrepreneurs who see opportunity in creating the new

green economy, the activists who organize community action and awareness

campaigns, the engineers who design the clean technology of the future, the

public servants who fight for climate change laws and for mitigation efforts, the

ordinary people who commit to living sustainably…

These faces of climate change are multiplying every day.

For many, climate change can often seem remote and hazy – a vague

and complex problem far off in the distance that our grandchildren may

have to solve. But that’s only because they’re still fortunate enough to be in-

sulated from its mounting consequences. Climate change has very real effects

on people, animals, and the ecosystems and natural resources on which we all

depend. Left unchecked, they’ll spread like wildfire.

Luckily, other faces of climate change are also multiplying every day.

On April 22, 2013, more than one billion people around the world will take

part in the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. From Beijing to Cairo, Mel-

bourne to London, Rio to Johannesburg, New Delhi to New York, commu-

nities everywhere will voice their concerns for the planet, and take action to

protect it. We’ll harness that power to show the world The Face of Climate

Change. And we’ll call on our leaders to act boldly together, as we have, in

this pivotal year.

Between now and Earth Day, we’ll collect

and display images of people, animals,

and places directly affected or threatened

by climate change – as well as images of

people stepping up to do something about

it. We’ll tell the world their stories. But

we need your help. We need you to be cli-

mate reporters. So, send us your pictures

and stories that show The Face of Cli-

mate Change.

On and around Earth Day, an interactive

digital display of all the images will be

shown at thousands of events around the

world, including next to federal govern-

ment buildings in countries that produce

the most carbon pollution. The display

will also be made available online to any-

one who wants to view or show it. Togeth-

er, we’ll highlight the solutions and

showcase the collective power of individ-

uals taking action across the world. In

doing so, we hope to inspire our leaders to

act and inspire ourselves to redouble our

efforts in the fight against climate

change.

Nektarina

(S)pace

NEKTARINA (S)PACE IS A WEBMAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

NEKTARINA NON PROFIT, A NON PROFIT, NON GOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATION. WWW.NEKTARINANONPROFIT.COM ISSN 1847-6691

April

Greens

NEKTARINA (S)PACE IS A WEBMAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

NEKTARINA NON PROFIT, A NON PROFIT, NON GOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATION. WWW.NEKTARINANONPROFIT.COM ISSN 1847-6691

Nektarina (S)pace, Web Magazine

Year 2, Issue # 8, April 2013

Published by Nektarina Non Profit

ISSN 1847 - 6694

Under Creative Commons Licence

Working together towards a sustainable future.

www.nektarinanonprofit.com

Nektarina Non Profit is a non governmental, non profit organization, and

most of our projects are based on volunteer work. Our articles are a compila-

tion of data (where we always provide the source) or articles / opinion pieces

(in which case there is a by-line). We come from different backgrounds, and

English is not the first language for any of us, so there might be an

occasional flop :). If you are using any of our content, it would be great if

you could link it back to us, and if you are using other people’s content (that

you found in this magazine) please make sure to copy the source links we

provided. Thank you!

In this

issue: Earth Day 2013

Priti Rajagopalan—A Woman of Substance, Exhibition : No

Borders, Interview: Jean Paul Brice Affana - Inspiring Afri-

ca, The Balkans—Connecting Point, Education for Sustaina-

ble Development—Positive Examples: Status and perspec-

tives in Montenegro, Planet Ocean—Yann Arthus Bertrand,

The Bookshelf: Tony Juniper—What has nature ever done

for us?, World Nature Heritage Site: The Plitvice Lakes,

Wellgreen Lewes—A skincare ideology, River Runs Through

It—Belgrade Rivers Photo Essay, Liveable Cities: Lugano,

Switzerland, Supernatural Festival, Pretty Funky Creative—

Arts and Crafts, The Olive Tree Inspiration, Delish! Recipe

of the Month: Cottage Pie, and more

/pieces Pains and Laughs of Fundraising and Sustainable Agriculture

will be published in our May issue/

Mustered by:

Publisher: Nektarina Non Profit

Creative Director & Editor-In-Chief: Sandra Antonovic

Lead Researcher & Contributing Editor: Livia Minca

Content Contributor: Yula Pannadopoulos

Journalist: Alyosha Melnychenko

Photography: Sandra Antonovic

Contributors for the April Issue:

Daniela Arnel and Tjasa Oresnik

A very special “thank you” to amazing and inspiring:

Priti Rajagopalan

Amanda Jane Saurin

Andjelka Ilic

Rozana Mihovilovic Perc

Jean Paul Brice Affana

for sharing their thoughts, crafts and photographs with us

Contributing photographers:

Martijn Deijl (pages 24/25 “Where Gandhi used to meditate”; and pages 36/37)

Biljana Ilic (The Balkans and pages 104/105)

Snezana Antonovic (River Runs Through It)

Miroslav Bukorovic (Montenegro)

All photographs on pages 142-157 Copyright Wellgreen Lewes

All photographs on pages 194—211 Copyright Andjelka Ilic

All photographs on pages 213—221 Copyright Olivetta.biz

Content and visuals on pages 2—11 provided by Earth Day Network

Cover page photograph: Plitvice Lakes, Copyright Sandra Antonovic

Plitvice Lakes and Lugano photographs, Copyright Sandra Antonovic

Further Notes & Acknowledgments - Please refer to pages 234/235

Contributors: This could be you!

If interested, email us to space@nektarinanonprofit.com

This issue has been done in A4 format, and it is printable. However, we urge

to consider your environmental responsibility before printing. Choose reading

it online, or download it for free to your device and read it offline.

From our

desk:

By Yula Pannadopoulos

Spring is here (although it doesn’t always feel like it, brrr!) and we are

diving deep with our eighth issue . Things are spicing up, and we have some

very cool content this month, from great interviews to World Nature Heritage

Site, from Liveable Cities to Education for Sustainability, from inspiring

crafts to thought-provoking exhibitions.

This month we celebrate Earth Day, we are talking about what has

nature done for us, and we are sharing information on things to read, visit

and see. We are certain you’ll find them inspiring, thought-provoking,

beautifully amazing and educational.

We carried over two pieces that were announced for April - Sustainable

Agriculture and The Pains and Laughs of Fundraising. We will publish

them in May issue - we had such an amazing influx of great content for

this issue, we thought it might be a good idea to leave something for upcoming

months too :).

We’d like to thank everyone who helped make this issue - last few weeks

have been challenging behind-the-scenes, but with the help of so many lovely,

happy, positive people we managed to produce a great issue (and deliver it on

time :) )

Enjoy!

A woman

of substance:

Priti

Rajagopalan

Beautiful, smart, determined, thought provoking - she captures your

attention the very moment you meet her. Priti Rajagopalan, an inspiring

young woman from the city of Nagpur in India, is our Woman of Substance

choice this month. Priti was kind enough to find time in her busy schedule

and share some thoughts with us.

Our favourite one? “The realist feels, there is going to be injustice,

there is going to be societies that come out of them. But for every injustice

done may it be environmental degradation, racial , political or economical

there will be one or many who will stand up to it and fight for what is right

for you, me and all around us.

Read full interview →

Nektarina (S)pace: You are from India. Most of our readers haven't been to In-

dia (yet). They see it as a place of hardship, but also a place of an amazing

beauty. What is your perception of India? How do you see it.

Priti Rajagopalan: As a child who grew up in a middle income family, we kids

were aware of times (grandparents and parents) where education and food was

a luxury. Despite that, they remain some of the happiest and the most content-

ed people I have known in my life. The thing about growing up around in a so-

ciety that has people from every social and economic status is typical of most

developing nations and so it is for India. My perception of India has changed

with my years. It used to be of green trees, chirping birds, playing gully (street)

cricket, watching Indian mythology (Ramayan and Mahabharat) on weekends

and enjoying absolutely amazing food during cultural events like Diwali

(festival of lights), Holi (festival of colours). It is only recently, after having

traveled around, have i realised the incredible unity India has managed in the

past century. I confess, a lot of how i problem solve or think is based on what I

have seen around me and the experience of growing up in a small town. To sum

it up in one sentence, I do not like a lot of things happening in the country but

definitely am proud of a lot of what we have achieved and what we are capable

of.

Nektarina (S)pace: You spent some of your academic years in India and some

of them in Abu Dhabi. How would you compare the experience of studying in

these two countries, with cultures that (seem) so different ? What were the

main differences and what were the similarities? How did you adjust?

Priti Rajagopalan: I did most of my life in India and an extremely brief period

in Abu Dhabi. At first, it was absolutely different and a difficult transition.

But, more so infrastructure wise - fast cars, cheap petrol, really high buildings

and outward exuberance that I was not used to nor liked much. Culturally, the

Indian diaspora in Abu Dhabi is huge so the cultural shock was minimal. Def-

initely though, the way people thought Indian or otherwise was different in

terms of luxury of affording things as well as how the luxury changed their

opinions and the way they lived.

Nektarina (S)pace: What would you say is the main thing India and its peo-

ple can teach the rest of the world? Endurance, the life so very dependent on

the nature, or something else?

Priti Rajagopalan: Indians are extremely hard working people. Similarly, In-

dia and Indians have always stood for deep humanitarian values which forms

an important part of our cultural heritage. Our tribes have given birth to

some great environmental movements, great men like Swami Vivekananda

and Gandhiji have derived their teachings from our faith and rich cultural

heritage of compassion, empathy and oneness.

Nektarina (S)pace: You are quite young, but you are a very eager activist for

many years now. Could you tell us something about your work / volunteer ex-

periences?

Priti Rajagopalan: I have been involved with climate change related work for

5 years now. It began as a small waste management and composting project

which made me a British Council Climate Champion. After that i worked in

rural India on solar projects and also traveled to Bangladesh to do adaptation

work in coastal areas. My values and ideals have been driven by what I have

seen on ground during my work. I have always been interested in Math and

Economics thus got into policy and have done my bit of policy work in re-

search institutes. Having said that, I feel policy should be derivative of

ground realities and social and economic reality of the masses and not the

other way round and that is that i strive to do.

Nektarina (S)pace: You worked for the World Bank as a research assistant,

but you were also an Indian youth delegate for UNFCC. How would you say

these two complement each other (if they are)?

Priti Rajagopalan: Both are multilateral agencies which try to bring in vari-

ous perspectives and blocs on the same table. There are countries that require

help and there are countries that want to help and this synergy is the healthi-

est part of both these forum. As an Indian youth delegate my work was more

policy and networking and the linking of international negotiations to Do-

mestic policies. World bank was more on building real-time solutions on the

ground. Like I have previously mentioned there is no use of a policy that can-

not work for the masses and help in making positive changes to a society.

What that policy or the positive change is subjective and that’s where most

problems begin.

Nektarina (S)pace: How does your work and volunteering impact your life,

your thoughts and perspectives?

Priti Rajagopalan: My work and volunteering have impacted my life mostly

positively. Sometimes you travel and see a lot of things that you don't like for

example disrespect for women, atrocities towards a particular group of people

or simply corruption which indirectly ruins important sectors like agricul-

ture and food security. There are moments like these that make you feel help-

less but then you realise " you can either sit and cry or try doing something,

whatever you can to make a small change". This mantra has won me a lot of

friends and the greatest reward in knowing there is a network of people work-

ing towards making small or big but significant changes to people and socie-

ties around them and that nobody is alone in doing what they are. And, i can-

not thank my two greatest strengths - my partner and brother who have been

the biggest support of my professional life. They keep me grounded and that

sometimes is the most important thing.

My values and ideals have been driven by

what I have seen on ground during my work.

I feel policy should be derivative of ground

realities and social and economic reality of

the masses and not the other way round and

that is that i strive to do.

Nektarina (S)pace: You travel quite a lot for your work and volunteering ac-

tivities. In which way does travel impact (enrichen) you?

Priti Rajagopalan: First of all, the choices I make as a traveler have been af-

fected by the person I am. I have managed to stay a vegetarian, keep my car-

bon footprint to the minimum I can and respecting cultural and social norms

of the places i visit. Also, I believe I have learnt an incredible amount of life

lessons and perspectives from my travels and meeting people. Once you travel

someplace you might physically leave that country but a part of it always stays

with you. And all these parts assimilate themselves over time and before you

know you have changed a lot as a person.

Nektarina (S)pace: What inspires you? What moves you? Where do you find

your energy?

Priti Rajagopalan: My greatest inspiration is every single person who is com-

ing up with amazing ideas to integrate the world and change the way things

work. What moves me most is when a person takes up an initiative to create a

change and empowers scores others out of passion and nothing else. That per-

son has had to come out of a comfort zone and out of a lot of selflessness. That

is my greatest inspiration. Passion gives you infinite energy. It will show you

sides of yourself that you never knew existed.

Nektarina (S)pace: How do you see the future of India and your hometown

Nagpur? How do you see the future of this planet?

Priti Rajagopalan:

There will be lesser trees, fewer birds to chirp, more

technology to give us an illusion of development. The

pessimist me says this.

We will have a just , fair political and economic

system. Happy people all around who love environ-

ment, social justice and economic parity as much as

they love their blackberry or iphones. My incredibly

unrealistic optimistic self tells me that.

The realist feels, there is going to be injustice, there is

going to be societies that come out of them. But for

every injustice done may it be environmental degrada-

tion, racial , political or economical there will be one

or many who will stand up to it and fight for what is

right for you, me and all around us.

Exhibition:

No Borders

by Adrian Tahourdin

A thought-provoking exhibition recently opened at the Bristol Museum and Art

Gallery, in partnership with Arnolfini. “No Borders”, featuring a dozen modern

artists from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, “reflects upon the globalised con-

ditions of the world today and the particular histories and contexts that inform

current art practices”. The show runs until June and is free. Greeting the view-

er in the hall of the gallery are five panoramic photographs, “Peripheral Sto-

ries”, by Hala Elkoussy of the outskirts of Cairo (all taken before the Arab

Spring): waste ground, half-built tower blocks, electricity pylons, dusty roads -

unpeopled. Elkoussy describes her native city as one that “is changing at a very

fast pace” (below). The Mumbai-born artist Shilpa Gupta’s mesmerizing “In

Our Times” consists of two seesawing old-fashioned-looking microphones

mounted on a stand, one intoning Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s first speech as Pres-

ident of Pakistan in 1947, the other Jawaharlal Nehru’s inaugural address as

the first Prime Minister of newly independent India, all overlaid with plangent

vocals. “I would not like to be called a ‘political’ artist, rather just an ‘everyday’

artist as politics is part of our daily lives . . . “.

Yto Barrada’s photographs show economic migrants asleep in a park in Tangier

as they prepare to undertake the dangerous journey to “fortress” Europe. Barra-

da explains that "to cross" is called "to burn": “you burn your past, your identity,

your papers, because if you're caught on the other side if you're from Algeria

you may get permission to stay, because of the political situation; if you're from

Morocco you're sent back right away. So there's this obsession to get on the oth-

er side where the grass is greener that animates the streets of the city of

Tangier, that governs everything you do from the morning to the night”.

Further south we see stark photographic portraits of sugar-cane cutters by the

South African Zwelethu Mthethwa. The Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari’s

touching and witty film “Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright” depicts an

epistolary dialogue between two former lovers: we watch as one types out ques-

tions about their relationship on a manual typewriter and, in a nod to the fact

that they haven't communicated for a decade, the responses instantly arrive on

-screen.

The Delhi-born Amar Kanwar’s half-hour film “A Season Outside”, about the

violence and disruption on the Kashmir border between India and Pakistan

(only last week two Indian and two Pakistani soldiers were killed in skir-

mishes), opens with the extraordinary flag-lowering ceremony that takes place

at the border gates at sunset - an apparent show of strength on both sides - and

develops into a personal meditation on the intractable problem.

There are striking works by the Pakistani miniaturists Imran Qureshi and

Shahzia Sikander - “I think that in the West you have a false idea about Pa-

kistan. It’s believed and wrongly so, that we are gagged and limited in our

artistic production”, writes Imran Qureshi.

Elsewhere we have Ai Weiwei’s compacted, lightly scented and all-too-tactile

(my companion was gently admonished for fingering it) cubic metre “A Ton of

Tea”, apparently made of “Pur Er blend of tea as it is drunk by ordinary

Chinese citizens across the country”.

No Borders reflects upon the globalised conditions of

the world today and the particular histories and

contexts that inform current art practices.

Inspiring

Africa:

Jean Paul

Brice Affana

Nektarina (S)pace: You are from Cameroon. Could you tell us something

about your country?

Jean Paul: Cameroon is known as the ‘‘Africa in miniature’’ which means that

in the country you can find so many different things at the same time, such as

biodiversity, people, culture, languages, values, etc. As a small Africa, Came-

roon offers people the opportunity to find themselves comfortable while en-

joying the nature. With over 20 million inhabitants, Cameroon has two offi-

cial languages – French and English – with over 100 local languages. This

makes us special.

Nektarina (S)pace: Africa is a mesmerizing, maybe even mysterious continent

to many people. What is your perception of Africa?

Jean Paul: I’m African and I’m happy to be from this amazing continent

where daily life is definitively not something you take for granted. When you

go out of the continent, you discover sometimes with high disappointment that

the idea others have about Africa is not what the reality is about. In many

countries worldwide, Africa is however synonym of poverty, diseases, crime,

corruption, HIV/AIDS, and all this makes me sad. Because all these issues

and problems are present in other countries as well, not only in Africa! But so

many media, politicians and even families prefer to ‘‘teach’’ this image of Af-

rica to the public, their citizens, their children, so that later they have no re-

spect for Africans. Thus, racism, xenophobia and all related behaviors are

happening. Why? Just because people don’t want to know the truth about Af-

rica, or they just don’t care.

Nektarina (S)pace: Can the rest of the world learn from Africa?

Jean Paul: The most important thing Africa can teach to the rest of the world

is ‘‘Survival’’. Yes, survival is our daily dish in Africa and this is something

that people don’t experience everywhere in the world. There are several places

in the world where life conditions are so good and amazing that young people

for example take it for granted and do nothing for their communities. If they

ever decide to do something, they only contribute to problems. But in Africa,

those young persons who contribute to crime for example, do it only because

they have to survive, not because they have so much good life conditions that

they don’t know what to do out of it. We struggle a lot in Africa and this

makes us good fighters for our survival. Every day, every week, every month,

we struggle to survive. That is the main thing according to me that my conti-

nent can teach to others.

Nektarina (S)pace: You are quite young (26 years old), but you are a very ea-

ger activist for many years now. Could you tell us something about your work /

volunteer experiences?

Jean Paul: The truth behind my work and volunteer experience and why I al-

ready achieved so much while still being that young is that I became aware of

my possible contribution to address global challenges as a global citizen very

early. I can say that I was lucky enough as this was in 2004 and since then I

have had a long way. But this was not the only reasons. I also had the chance

to meet with people and other leaders who knew how to motivate me and to en-

courage me. My elder sister for example has played an important role here. I

will never thank her enough.

First when I joined volunteer activities in Cameroon, mostly in the cities of

Yaoundé and Ngaoundéré, I discovered that when working with others we can

achieve more and have a better impact. Then I have been working with many

community projects and youth-led initiatives which gave me this strong expe-

rience and work achievements I already have while also being so young. I con-

nected later with the global community and supported in the best of my capac-

ity many projects and campaigns, speaking at global events, sharing my experi-

ence and skills as trainer of facilitator, coordinating youth networks and

youth-led projects, meeting with high leaders and Heads of State, etc. I did

quite a lot already and this encouraged me to keep going and achieve even

more.

Nektarina (S)pace: You are a founder of Vital Actions for Sustainable Devel-

opment (AVD). Could you share with us more about that part of your work?

Jean Paul: I co-founded Vital Actions for Sustainable Development (AVD) in

2008 in Cameroon. The idea came to my minds when I was in University and

discovered that I needed a platform where I can express myself and transform

into actions and projects all the ideas I developed in my head since 2004. I had

many on them and they keep coming in. The NGO has permanent members

and volunteers who work together to implement activities that raise awareness

about environmental issues and the importance of achieving sustainable devel-

opment for all. Through informal educational activities and learning for

change, we train, inform, educate and empower people to become eco-citizens

in our cities so that they support sustainable development and save our envi-

ronment. In 2009 the World Bank recognised my work when I shared my vi-

sion of a world where young people can be positive agents for change in ad-

dressing sustainable development by participating to the World Bank Essay

Competition 2009.

I went to South Korea and met there with other young leaders sharing the

same vision as I do. That also encouraged me later to connect the work of AVD

with other global youth so that we can work together in achieving great suc-

cess. Today AVD is growing in its achievements and is one of the most success-

ful youth-led NGOs in Cameroon, and even in Central Africa. I’m proud of the

work we do and my colleagues as well as our volunteers are so amazing in their

commitment. We are a great team!

Continued →

Nektarina (S)pace: How does your work and volunteering impact your life,

your thoughts and perspectives?

Jean Paul: The work I’m doing has a direct impact on my personal life. First

I’m now able to act as an eco-citizen who understand the role of ‘‘green’’ atti-

tudes and lifestyles to contribute to sustainable development starting from the

little things. Secondly I’m able to see myself as a global citizen who under-

stands the global challenges and the fact that we cannot solve them by using

the same thinking we used when creating them, to quote Einstein. This is es-

sential for me given that I understand now a lot about the mechanisms around

the work of international development agencies, intergovernmental processes,

the United Nations, etc. I have learned about all these institutions when I was

a student at primary and secondary school, and now I’m experiencing working

with them. This is something I never expected and thought before when I was

a child, a student. All this has now an impact of my life. I can see the big pic-

ture and understand it very well. I can be able to accept the differences be-

tween people and agree that we are all united despite our diversity. I’m able to

accept the failures of my work and understand that I can improve it more

while working with these lessons learned and with other people’ support. This

is how my work and experience impact my own life and the life of others

around me.

Nektarina (S)pace: You travel quite a lot for your work and volunteering ac-

tivities. In which way does travel impact (enrichen) you?

Jean Paul: Travelling is something I mostly do for my work and the last three

years have been full of new experiences. I had the opportunity to virtually con-

nect and exchange with my peers and other key leaders worldwide. However

while travelling I met with many of them physically and this has something

different.

When you finally discover the persons behind the emails and the social me-

dia, you are honoured and happy. Travelling has also enabled me to connect

with most of the people I’m working with now at the global level. The success

of the Rio+20 Global Youth Music Contest I have been coordinating globally

in 2011 and 2012 was possible because I connected with a very special person

in 2009 in another country. That is how travels contribute to my work experi-

ence and also to my personal life. I meet with people. I work with them. I

discover new things and I learn from them as they can learn from me too. I

like that part of my work, mostly when the impact and added value is direct

and has a long term impact.

Nektarina (S)pace: What inspires you? What moves you? Where do you find

your energy?

There is a French assertion that says ‘‘Aux âmes bien nées, la valeur n’attend

point le nombre d’années’’. This means that it doesn’t matter if you are young

pr not, when the time comes for you to do something, you have and will do it.

I’m strongly convinced that my work and achievements so far is also related

to this assertion. However I have to add that I didn’t wait for someone to ask

me to do something and consider myself as a global citizen aware of the glob-

al challenges the world faces. When I want to do something I always try and

start before accepting the hard conditions later. Because I know that if I

don’t start to do something, I will never know if I can make it or not. I’m nat-

urally a fighter and a hard worker. That makes me special when working

with others too. When I started to become aware of these characters that I

have I was able to find myself and also decided to join community groups as

a volunteer to address those challenges. It always motivates me also to work

with people sharing the same goals as I do.

That is the best motivation ever give

that you realise that you are not alone

and you are a group, a community!

Nektarina (S)pace: How do you see the

future of Africa and Cameroon? How

do you see the future of this planet?

Africa can rise from its problems if its

sons and daughters become more ac-

tive in addressing them. I don’t think

we will do it in one day. It needs time

and years, decades, but it is possible.

Our planet counts on us all. There is

no future planned. We design it. To-

gether. That is why I’m contributing

to make the best design out of it while

being an active activist and young pro-

fessional. Everyone has a role t play

here. We are a global family of global

citizens.

The Balkans

Connecting

Point

What does the word 'Balkan' refer to?

Mountain. 'Balkan' is a Turkish word, meaning 'wooded mountain' or 'black

mountain'. The Turkish word originates from the Central Asian term

'barkhan', which denotes a crescent-shaped sand dune. The Balkan Peninsula

is an almost entirely mountainous region. The average altitude varies from

470 m (Bulgaria) to 850 m (FYR of Macedonia). The entire peninsula has an

area of around 550,000 km² and has roughly 55 million inhabitants.

What is the highest peak in the Balkans?

Musala (Mt. Rila). Musala (2,925 m) is the highest peak of Mount Rila, Bul-

garia. Mytikas (2,918 m) is the highest point of Mount Olympus, Greece.

Vihren (2,914 m) is the highest point of the Pirin Mountain in south-western

Bulgaria. Triglav (2,864 m) is the highest peak of the Julian Alps, in Slove-

nia. Its positioning in the Balkan peninsula is somewhat controversial

though. It is interesting that the names of these high mountains reflect an-

cient religious beliefs connecting them to celestial gods. Thus, Mt. Olympus

was the seat of Olympic gods of ancient Greeks. Musala derives its name from

Mus Allah, or Allah's Mountain, while it's earlier, Bulgarian name, was Tan-

gra. Tangra was ancient god of the skies, creator of entire universe, of Altaic

peoples. Triglav (Three-headed) was a god of ancient Slavs.

What is the name of the central mountain range of the Balkan Peninsula?

Stara Planina. The Stara Planina stretches from eastern Serbia into Bulgaria.

It is about 560 km long. Its highest peak is Botev 2,376 m (in Bulgaria). The

term 'Balkan Peninsula' was first coined in 1808 by August Zeune, a German

geographer.

It is noteworthy that the peninsula got its name after the Turkish word for

this mountain, and not after its Slavic name, which would have been logical

considering the fact that the majority of the population was and is Slavic. This

clearly reflected aggressive aspirations of Europe's big powers towards reigning

these regions, as opposed to self-governing drive of Balkan nations in the nine-

teenth century. Kopaonik and Suva Planina are in Serbia, Sar Planina is at

the border between Serbia and Macedonia.

What is the longest river in the Balkan Peninsula?

Morava. The Morava river system (Ibar-Zapadna Morava-Velika Morava)

lies in Serbia, and with a length of 550 km it is the longest waterway in the

Balkan Peninsula. The Drina runs through Serbia and Bosnia and is 487

km long. It is formed by the rivers Piva and Tara (the latter is famous for

the beautiful canyon and rafting possibilities) and it has a big electroener-

getic potential of six billion kilowatt-hours. The Marica (Maritsa, Greek:

Evros), flowing through Bulgaria and constituting the border between

Greece and Turkey, is 480 km long. In 1371 an important battle took place on

the Marica, between invading Ottoman forces and defending Serb forces. The

Serbs lost, and the Ottomans penetrated deep into the Balkans for the first

time. The Vardar (Greek: Axios), the river flowing from Skopje into the Ae-

gean sea close to Thessaloniki, is 388 km long and found in Macedonia.

Which one is NOT a catabatic (descending) wind of the Balkans?

Sirocco. Catabatic winds are cold, descending winds. The Vardarac is a

northern wind blowing down the valley of Vardar. The Kosava (Koshava) is

strong wind in Serbia, blowing from south-east. The Bura (Italian: Bora) is

a very strong catabatic wind on the Adriatic coast, the strongest below Mount

Velebit in Croatia. In 2006 a wind speed of 235 km/h was measured on the

Croatian island Pag. The Sirocco ("Yugo" in Serbo-Croatian) comes from the

Sahara. Blowing over the Mediterranean Sea, it becomes wet bringing

clouds, humidity and rain. It is a warm, anabatic (ascending) wind.

The northern border of the Balkan Peninsula lies on three rivers. Which

ones?

Danube, Sava and Kupa. There is more than one definition as to what consti-

tutes the northern border of the Balkan Peninsula. The line formed by the

rivers Danube, Sava and Kupa is perhaps the most widely used. Also used are

the lines Danube-Sava-Krka-Socha, Danube-Sava-Ljubljana-Trieste and

others.

What does the term 'balkanize' mean?

To divide a country into small, ineffectual parts. 'To balkanize' means 'to di-

vide into small, quarreling, ineffectual parts'. The term is a reference to the

general political situation in the Balkans between the Congress of Berlin

(1878) and the Second Balkan War (1913), when the European part of the

Ottoman Empire (Rumelia) was split into small states that were often in a

state of war. But this process essentially echoed the competing and antagonis-

tic interests of the big powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain,

France and Russia) in the Ottoman heritage in Balkans.

The identity of the Balkans is dominated by its geography;

historically the area was known as a crossroads of several

cultures. It has been a meeting point between the Latin and

Greek parts of the Roman Empire. It became an area where

Orthodox and Catholic Christianity met, as well as the meeting

point between Islam and Christianity. Many Jewish people fled

here from Inquisition.

What does the Serbocroat term 'vlah' NOT represent?

Gipsy. The Serbo-Croatian term 'vlah' illustrates the complicated ethnic his-

tory of the Balkans well. In the Middle Ages the term was used to describe

the old Balkan population (romanized Illyrians, Thracians and Celts) that

retreated to the mountains and to Adriatic islands during Great Shift of na-

tions in 6th and 7th centuries. They eventually became shepherds, so the

term has gradually acquired the meaning of shepherd as an occupation. Af-

ter the Ottoman conquest, Christians were to a greater extent marginalized

in mountainous areas, thus also becoming shepherds, or 'vlahs' for the newly

Islamized population. Vlahs in eastern Serbia, however, are a separate eth-

nic group, culturally and linguistically linked to Romanians. There are

many geographic toponyms reflecting this history, like Mount Vlasic in Bos-

nia, region Stari Vlah in Serbia, Mount Romania in Bosnia etc.

On this point in the Iron Gate, the Danube is only 150 m wide. What is the

name of this gorge?

Great Kazan. The Iron Gate (Djerdapska Klisura) is a 134 km-long system

of gorges in the Danube, forming part of the border between Romania and

Serbia. The main gorges are Golubac Gorge (14.5 km long, 230 wide on the

narrowest part), Gospodin Vir (15 km long, 220 m wide) and Great Kazan

(Kazan means 'kettle' in Serbian), with a length of 19 km (together with the

Small Kazan) and the narrowest point of 150 m. The Danube is 54 m deep

here. In 105 AD, before his conquest of Dacia (Romania), the Roman emper-

or Trajan erected a bridge (Trajan's Bridge) here. Today the Iron Gate is a

national park in Serbia.

Lepenski Vir is the archeological site in the Iron Gate, where exciting ichtio-

morphical (piscine) Mesolithic figures were excavated (the peak of the Lep-

enski Vir Culture was between 5300 BC and 4800 BC). Rich findings in Lep-

enski Vir indicate the high cultural level of these early Europeans.

The first urban settlement in Europe, older than the cities of Mesopotamia

and Egypt, was erected on the banks of Danube, near Belgrade. What is its

name?

Vinca. Some 15 km east of Belgrade, near the village of Vinca (pronounced

Vincha), the first urban settlement in Europe was built in the 6th millenni-

um BC. This is earlier than the first urban settlements in Mesopotamia. It

was the main settlement of the Neolithic Vinca culture, discovered by Miloje

Vasic in 1908. The site was excavated from 1918-1934. The Vinca culture

flourished between the 6th and 3rd millennium BC in the wider Balkan ar-

ea, stretching also into Asia Minor and Central Europe. The Kostolac culture

is a culture from the Copper Age that succeeded the Vinca culture. The But-

mir Culture is also a Neolithic culture, in Bosnia, dating around 2,500 BC.

Butmir is near Sarajevo. It is noteworthy that near Krapina (North-western

Croatia), archeologist Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger discovered what is

today the biggest fossil site of the Neanderthal man. He found over eight

hundred fossil remains. They are dated to be around 100,000 years old. On the

other site near Vindija, Croatia, a 38,000 year old bone fragment was found

in 1980. Analysis showed that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens share about

99.5% of their DNA.

To what political philosophy did the Balkans give rise?

Democracy. Democracy (from the Greek words demos or 'people' and kratos

'rule') was a political system developed by the ancient Greeks in Athens, dur-

ing the first millennium BC. Liberalism is an English political thought de-

veloped during the 18th and 19th centuries. Socialism was developed in

France, Germany and England during 19th century. Fascism was developed in

Italy during the 1920s.

This anthropological variety of the Caucasian race is described in the Western

Balkans, in the background of the Adriatic coast. What is it called?

Dinaric. Physical anthropology divides races according to various physical

measurements. The Dinaric variety of the Caucasian race is tall, relatively ro-

bust, with long legs, brachicephalic, brown eyes, and hair dark brown. The

nose is large and convex. It is prototyped in the Western Balkans, and got its

name from the Dinaric Mountain Range. Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean

are other types of Caucasians.

One of the biggest bird reserves in Europe lies in a lake on the Balkans.

Which one?

Skadar. Lake Skadar (Albanian: Skutari) is the largest lake in the Balkans,

with an area of 370-530 km2, depending on the water level. It is shared by

Montenegro and Albania. The lake was formed as a crypto-depression. The

river Moracha fills the lake while the river Boyana drains it. Lake Skadar is

one of the biggest bird reserves in Europe, with almost 300 species.

Which of the following winds does NOT blow in the seas surrounding Balkan

Peninsula?

Foehn. Maltemi is a strong northern wind in the Aegean region, mostly in

summer, that is strongest in the afternoons. It can reach 7 to 8 Beaufort. The

Maestral is a mild daily westerly wind in the Adriatic region that blows from

the sea onto the coast. It is the result of the daily warming of the coast relative

to the sea. As already said, the Sirocco is a wind that comes from the Sahara,

bringing rain and big waves. The Foehn is a hot and dry wind descending

from the leeward side of the Alps.

The weather in the Balkans is influenced mainly by three huge weather sys-

tems. Name the one that does NOT influence the Balkan weather directly!

Beaufort High. Most of the Balkans has a continental climate, with a Medi-

terranean climate on its coasts. The weather conditions are influenced by

three major weather systems - Siberian High, Azores High and Icelandic

Low. The Azores High is an anticyclonic high pressure system (sea-level pres-

sure 1024 mbar) near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. It brings warm and

dry weather in summer. The Icelandic Low is a cyclonic low-pressure system

near Iceland in northern Atlantic, cyclonic activity bringing rain and mois-

ture. The Siberian High is an anticyclonic system (sea-level pressure often

above 1040 mbar, with record of 1083.8 mb!) of cold dry air that accumulates

above Eurasia in winter (November-March). The air in Siberian High is of-

ten colder than - 40 Celsius. It is responsible for cold winters in Balkans.

Beaufort High is an anticyclone that is formed above the Beaufort Sea, north

of northwestern Canada.

This landscape in the Western Balkans is characterized by its rugged sur-

face, extensive underground drainage and caves. Which one is NOT one of its

names?

Corso. Karst, Kras and Carso are the German, Serbocroation and Italian

names for this landscape. This landscape is formed by the dissolution in wa-

ter of calcium-carbonate bedrock. Characteristic formations are clints, grikes,

disappearing and reappearing springs, limestone pavements, poljes (basins),

caves, sinkholes etc. Corso is a term for the pedestrian street.

This formidable cave system in Slovenia is one of the most beautiful in the

world. What is it called?

Postojna. Postojna cave (Postojnska jama) is a very beautiful, 20 km long

carst cave system in Western Slovenia. It was discovered in the 17th century.

Endemic Proteus anguinus ('Human fish') live in the cave and so does a spe-

cies of blind salamander.

Which mountain massif is NOT in the Balkan Peninsula?

Taurus Mountains. The Rhodopes Mountains (Golyam Perelik 2,191m) lie

mostly in Bulgaria. The Dinaric Alps (Prokletije 2,692m) are a mountain

range that is around 650 km long, along the eastern Adriatic coast. It is the

third biggest mountain range in Europe, after the Alps and the Scandinavian

Mountains. The Pindus Mountains (Smolikas 2,637m) are a 160 km long

mountain range in northern Greece. The Taurus Mountains are in southeast-

ern Turkey (Aladaglar, 4,000 m).

This lake is the deepest in the Balkans (288 m), preserving more than 200 en-

demic species. What is it called?

Ohrid. Lake Ohrid is the deepest and oldest lake in the Balkans (from the

Pliocene, about 5 million years ago). It is a tectonic lake found in Macedonia.

Lakes of similar origin are rare in the world, the most notable examples be-

ing Lake Baikal in Russia and Lake Tanganyika in Africa. Lake Ohrid rep-

resents a unique ecosystem harboring more than 200 endemic species. The

Black Drim River flows from Lake Ohrid into the Adriatic Sea. The other

answer options are also lakes in Central Balkans.

What are the most numerous people of the Balkans?

Greeks. The Greeks are the most numerous of the Balkan peoples (around

10.5 million), followed by Serbs (9.5 million) and Bulgarians (6.5 million).

The overall majority of inhabitants are of Slavic origin (around 27 million

out of around 45 million). The language spoken most widely in the Balkans

is Serbo-Croatian, spoken by more than 16 million people.

What is the major religion in the Balkans?

Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The majority of the Balkan people belong to

Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians,

Montenegrins). Majority of Albanians and Turks, and some 40% of popula-

tion of Bosnia and Herzegovina are Muslims. Croats and Slovenes are mostly

Catholic. The religious differences played a major role in the processes of

constituting national states in the 19th century, as well as in the processes of

balkanization.

Positive

Examples:

Montenegro

Education for

Sustainable Development (ESD):

Status and perspectives in Montenegro

The Montenegrin educational system has experienced a number of recent

systemic changes as an answer to social reality which asks for changes in edu-

cation and as it has begun to cooperate with the wider region and the Europe-

an Union. One important aim of reforms in Montenegro is to create a new gen-

eration of people who will respect and apply the principles and concept of sus-

tainable development in Montenegro.

In order to support sustainable development implementation, with par-

ticular reference to the education sector, new educational curricula should be

developed. The new curricula developed around the ESD concept for primary

schools, secondary vocational schools, high schools, and also universities must

underline the knowledge and skills that ensure achieving important economi-

cal, social, and environmental goals.

So far, the introduction of sustainable development content in the

Montenegrin education system is in its initial phase. Some of the most-

pressing issues have been spelled out in the document “Action Plan—

Integration of Sustainable Development into Educational System 2007–

2009”. The aim of developing the Action Plan was to create conditions for

planned introduction of sustainable development contents into the Montene-

grin educational system. It defines tasks, roles, dynamics and required finan-

cial resources of educational institutions responsible for delivering envisaged

activities. The Action Plan was brought in line with principles and goals of

UN Strategy, National Strategy for Sustainable Development, as well as with

those principles and goals given in the key documents of educational reform

implementation.

New curricula are modernized and adjusted to contemporary require-

ments in Europe, built based on a goal-oriented planning of contents and

teachers themselves can choose methods and activities by which the goals can

be best achieved. One step in Montenegro has been to give teachers, students,

and schools the independence to create new subject curricula. It means the lo-

cal community can create around 20% of the local curricula’s contents. Trials

within the last few years have shown that this does depend on teachers’ moti-

vations to adjust the curricula to the local community and school. This is an

opportunity for sustainable development to gain traction and teachers who

have worked with this program have received training and aid. The percent-

age of sustainable development contents within new subject curricula is very

high. According to plan, new curricula will comprise all pupils in the grades

from first to ninth until the end of school year 2013/14.

Delivering sustainable development in education in Montenegro is based on

the idea that children and young people may play an active role in promot-

ing sustainable development. Therefore, children are considered as active

agents of change to promote sustainability in the home and in the wider

community (for example recycling, energy and water saving, etc). According-

ly, schools should act as a focal point for sustainability issues in their com-

munities, while learning in that manner needs to be a practical experience.

Another recent model in Montenegro has promoted elective subjects in pri-

mary schools, high schools, and secondary vocational schools, giving stu-

dents different avenues to explore their creativity and satisfy their interests.

Also, through elective subjects, teachers are often teaching in areas in which

they are highly qualified. When it comes to general high school, by choosing

compulsory elective subjects pupils create their own “orientation” and that

way they actively influence the formation of their own professional orienta-

tion.

One important aim of reforms in Montenegro is

to create a new generation of people who will

respect and apply the principles and concept of

sustainable development in Montenegro.

Teachers’ training should include interactive work (exchange of experi-

ences, knowledge, beliefs, and needs between leaders and participants, as well

as among participants), and cooperation and partnership (cooperative learn-

ing). Application of ICT, introducing of E-learning and Distance learning

by means of videoconference system completely provides for sustainable

teacher training system and quality implementation of educational system

reform.

Quality programme realization is not possible to achieve without trained

teachers and adequate teacher aids. Beforehand, it is necessary to develop

training programme for teachers who are instructing under new educational

curricula, capacitate trainers, develop a small pilot-project that will test the

training model with a small cohort of teachers and afterwards in line with ac-

tivities envisaged by the Action Plan start with the training of teachers. The

Bureau for Educational Services and Centre for Vocational Education are the

organizers of teacher training for realization of new curricula while the Ex-

amination Centre organizes training for test authors and training for admin-

istering exams.

Local community can create around 20% of the

local curricula’s contents. This does depend on

teachers’ motivations to adjust the curricula to the

local community and school.

Development and application of teacher aids is also very important for

understanding, learning and adopting these contents (textbooks, handbooks,

magazines, computers, videotapes, projectors, media materials). Textbooks as

a primary teacher aid and a part of comprehensive reform education, of

course, have an important role in realization of programmes in the area of

sustainable development. Doubtless, themes related to this area are far more

present in textbooks, which resulted in a large number of projects in the field

of environment and sustainable development. This fact gave additional im-

pulse to familiarization of children with different cultures, new comprehen-

sion of significance that environment has, more refined respect of the envi-

ronment, as well as adoption of new criteria and standards.

Delivering sustainable development in

education in Montenegro is based on the idea

that children and young people may play an

active role in promoting sustainable

development. Therefore, children are considered

as active agents of change to promote

sustainability in the home and in the wider

community (for example recycling, energy and

water saving, etc).

Our

Blockbuster:

Can we imagine a film that would change the way people look at the ocean?

Can we explain simply, to everyone, the greatest natural mystery of our plan-

et? And lastly, can we help our children believe in a better and more sustain-

able world tomorrow?

This is the triple challenge of a new cinema adventure signed by Yann Ar-

thus-Bertrand and editor- in-chief Michael Pitiot, who brings with him the

scientific missions of TARA, a unique pool of researchers, oceanographers

and biolo- gists from several countries. Thanks to its astonishing photog-

raphy, the film takes us on a magnificent and unprecedented journey into the

heart of the least known regions of our planet.

The film narrates the most marvelous and also the most terrifying human ex-

periences of our time. Filmed in extreme geographical conditions all over the

globe, it describes the modern Odyssey of people who go out to discover their

blue planet.

The film is also a plea for humanity to respect the world in which we live. It

serves a noble and universal cause that will be defended at the next Earth

Summit, in Rio, in 2012.

If you are an NGO or a school and that you wish to organize a free screening

of the film Planet Ocean, please contact the GoodPlanet Foundation :

anne.lelay@goodplanet.org

More information:

http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/en/films-tv/planet-ocean

http://ocean.goodplanet.org/?lang=en

The

Bookshelf

By Tony Juniper

One of the gravest misconceptions of modern times is the still widely

held view that efforts to nurture nature can be a drag on economic develop-

ment. Nothing could be further from the truth.

From nutrient recycling in soils to the protection of coasts by wetlands

and from carbon capture and storage in forests to the pollination of crop

plants by insects, nature is has massive economic value. Without it there is no

development, no economy and no prospect to meet long-term poverty reduction

goals. The truth is that the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ecology,

not the other way around.

In my new book called "What has nature ever done for us?" I tell the sto-

ries of how natural systems sustain our welfare. Some of the things I discov-

ered left me stunned. A case in point concerns the economic value of India’s

vultures – or more accurately their former value.

Across the subcontinent during the 1990s, India’s three vulture species

suffered a catastrophic decline. It was caused by an anti-inflammatory drug

used to treat farm animals. Residues in the bodies of dead cattle and buffalo

proved toxic to such birds and their numbers plummeted from about 40 mil-

lion to a few tens of thousands.

Each year the vultures were eating about 12 million tonnes of rotting

flesh. With the vultures’ gone this became food for wild dogs. Their popula-

tion rocketed and more dog bites and human rabies infections followed.

This in turn led to an estimated 50,000 or so more deaths than would

otherwise have been the case. The cost of this and other consequences on In-

dia’s economy was (over a decade or so) put at an eye-watering US$34 billion..

Taken together, the loss of natural services is believed to be costing the

global economy more than 6 trillion dollars per year, or equivalent to around

11 per cent of world GDP. By contrast, the estimated cost of meeting global

targets to avert the impending mass extinction of species is put at about US$76

billion, or about 0.12 per cent of annual GDP.

There are many initiatives underway that set out to restore services once

provided by nature. For example, efforts to reverse the decline in vulture pop-

ulations are being co-ordinated by a consortium of national conservation or-

ganisations and multi-national vulture experts, including the RSPB. This ini-

tiative, Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), was launched in

2011 to help coordinate research, advocacy and implementation of the actions

needed to prevent these birds from disappearing forever.

This and a whole lot of other work is not only about conservation for its

own sake, but also about the practical benefits we all derive from what nature

provides. The sooner political and business leaders realize that it makes eco-

nomic sense to nurture nature the more likely it will be that goals to improve

human wellbeing can be met.

Tony Juniper is Britain’s best known environmental campaigner, and a for-

mer director of Friends of the Earth. He is the author of several books includ-

ing Saving Planet Earth, which accompanied the BBC TV series.

By Jessica Shankleman

The word "nature" isn't usually written with a capital letter, but for the

Prince of Wales' introduction to Tony Juniper's new book, "Nature" becomes a

proper noun.

From the $3.7tr that could be saved through carbon capture by halving the

deforestation rate, to the $81bn worth of damage caused by Hurricane Katri-

na, What has Nature Ever Done for Us? vividly reminds readers about the eco-

nomic value of our natural resources, and what we stand to lose by ignoring and

eradicating them. Juniper's sixth book is so clearly written and enjoyably read-

able that it looks set to become a valuable tool for business leaders and students

striving to gain a better understanding of the green economy.

Throughout 12 chapters, each covering a different aspect of the natural

world, Juniper delivers fact after fact illustrating just how dependent our eco-

nomic success has become, and will continue to be, on nature. With an engaging

and non-preachy tone, he joins the dots for readers explaining how the impact

of human activity on nature could have much wider unintended consequences

elsewhere. One of the more startling examples shows how the dramatic drop in

population of India's "natural bin men" – vultures – appears to have inadvert-

ently led to a rise in dog populations, and therefore rabies cases, costing the

country around $34bn by some estimates.

The other chapters cover a range of topics, including the value of pollina-

tion, fish, and soil, which Juniper says alone could capture 5.5 billion tonnes of

additional carbon each year if it were better managed.

Juniper takes a traditional "people, planet, profit" triple bottom line ap-

proach, highlighting the emerging trend for businesses to try and integrate the

value of natural capital into their business models.

The book does not focus on many of the more well-known low carbon

technologies, such as wind turbines and electric cars, and instead Juniper

highlights some of the less celebrated innovations that have already, or could

in future, improve our lifestyles while preserving the environment. One sur-

prising example is the horseshoe crab, whose copper based blood is still consid-

ered the best substance for testing the sterility of drugs – no synthetic alterna-

tive has proved as successful. He also draws attention to elephants' giant guts,

which have helped us to develop more efficient ways of making biofuels, as we

better understand how they break down food. Some of the natural processes

Juniper describes are so fundamental to our existence, such as photosynthesis

or the story of evolution, that his explanations might strike as a little basic to

readers already au fait with the latest environmental thinking. (Anyone

whose seen Fatboy Slim's Right Here, Right Now video understands the basic

process of evolution, right?) But nevertheless, both novices and experts can

draw lessons from the way Juniper communicates these concepts in an incredi-

bly accessible way. In fact, the book could prove a particularly valuable re-

source for sustainability leaders who struggle to convince their colleagues and

senior management about the value of green projects.

With a foreword by Prince Charles, and its richly interwoven facts and

figures, What Has Nature Ever Done for Us? deserves to be a hit with nature

lovers and business leaders alike.

World

Nature

Heritage

Site:

The Plitvice

Lakes

Plitvice Lakes National Park contains a series of beautiful lakes, caves and

waterfalls. These have been formed by processes typical of karst landscapes

such as the deposition of travertine barriers, creating natural dams. These geo-

logical processes continue today.

The Plitvice Lakes basin is a geomorphologic formation of biological origin, a

karst river basin of limestone and dolomite, with approximately 20 lakes, cre-

ated by the deposition of calcium carbonate precipitated in water through the

agency of moss, algae and aquatic bacteria. These create strange, characteristic

shapes and contain travertine-roofed and vaulted caves. The carbonates date

from the Upper Trias, Juras and Cretaceous Ages and are up to 4,000 m thick.

In order to maintain and preserve the natural characteristics of the lakes, the

whole of surface and most of the subterranean drainage system has to be em-

braced by extending the original borders of the park. The new areas comprise

layers of karstified limestone with dolomites of Jurassic age.

There are 16 interlinked lakes between Mala Kapela Mountain and Pljesevica

Mountain. The lake system is divided into the upper and lower lakes: the upper

lakes lie in a dolomite valley and are surrounded by thick forests and inter-

linked by numerous waterfalls; the lower lakes, smaller and shallower, lie on

the limestone bedrock and are surrounded only by sparse underbrush. The up-

per lakes are separated by dolomite barriers, which grow with the formation of

travertine, forming thus travertine barriers. Travertine is mostly formed on the

spots where water falls from an elevation, by the incrustation of algae and

moss with calcium carbonate. The lower lakes were formed by crumbling and

caving-in of the vaults above subterranean cavities through which water of the

upper lakes disappeared.

The forest, that comprises pure stands of beech at lower altitudes and mixed

stands of beech and fir at higher levels, can also be classified in terms of un-

derlying strata of dolomite and limestone complexes. The dolomite communi-

ties comprise tertiary pine, hornbeam, spruce and beech-fir forests. The lime-

stone communities have a smaller number of forest types but cover a larger ar-

ea with communities of spruce and fern, spruce in beech, coppiced hornbeam

with sumac, maple and heather. Hydrophytic communities of black alder, grey

ivy, willow, reeds and bulrush communities are found. There are a large mosa-

ic of meadow communities, depending on altitude, geology soils and other eco-

logical factors.

The area is fauna-rich, including European brown bear, wolf, eagle owl and

capercaillie. There are records of 126 species of bird, of which 70 breed.

The area was the cradle of the prehistoric Illyrian tribe of Japuds dating from

1000 BC. The Japudic culture was followed by the Romans and from the 8th

century AD was occupied by Slavs. Archaeological remains include a prehis-

toric settlement on the site of the current Plitvice village, fortifications,

Bronze Age tools and ceramics.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe

and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in

1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the

border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The important north-south road connec-

tion, which passes through the national park area, connects the Croatian in-

land with the Adriatic coastal region.

Wellgreen

Lewes -

A skincare

ideology

By Amanda Jane Saurin

It’s fascinating to look

at the marketing of skin-

care for women (and in-

creasingly men) and appre-

ciate fully the subtext,

which suggests that perfect

skin is a pre-requisite for

happiness, that ageing is a

conquerable evil and that

only the beautiful succeed.

Any product designed for

the over 35s is aimed at

‘anti-ageing’ and by 40,

without the right creams

and unguents we are lost.

This is of course absolute

nonsense.

Wellgreen Lewes was established to create skincare that cares for the

skin. Every ingredient is chosen to promote the health of the skin. We believe

that everyone deserves beautiful, healthy skin at every stage of their lives – this

is not a question of anti-ageing, lip plumping, youth serum, wrinkle diminish-

ing hyperbole, it is so much simpler than that. As with excellent food, which

feeds and delights the body, the skin benefits from being cleansed and nour-

ished with the best quality ingredients and less is definitely more. A quick

glance at the majority of soaps for example reveals a plethora of ingredients:

colours, artificial fragrances, cheap oils, animal fats and frequently palm oil.

In fact, the production of soap requires an acid, an alkali and water and that’s

all, other herbs and essential oils can add to the individual needs of the skin

but are not strictly necessary.

It is the same story with moisturisers but in these products there is the ad-

ditional issue of product preservation. Large commercial enterprises need prod-

ucts to have a shelf life of around 2 years and so the preservatives used need to

be very effective and long lasting, hence the advent of parabens. Unfortunately

these are linked to studies alleging a possible link to breast cancer although no

definitive causal link has been proved. Equally the creams need to retain their

stability over a long period of time thus another whole raft of ingredients are

added.

Wellgreen Lewes was established to create

skincare that cares for the skin. Every ingredient

is chosen to promote the health of the skin.

Finally there is the smell of the product – this is most interesting because

‘fragrance’ is accepted as commercially sensitive information, which means that

the actual ‘scenting’ ingredients do not need to be revealed on the label. The vast

majority of fragrance used commercially has never seen the flower it purports to

smell of. Honeysuckle for example is almost never natural because the process of

production in large quantity is so expensive. Equally the majority of Rose scent-

ed products are usually either artificially produced fragrance oil or a combina-

tion of other essential oils that in combination smell a bit like roses. Fragrances

often contain phthalates, which although they are chemical plasticisers can be

found in perfumes/fragrances because they extend the scent. Phthalates have

been linked in numerous studies to hormone disruption, which may affect devel-

opment and fertility.

Wellgreen Lewes was created to offer something completely different - a

skincare business that avoids chemical ingredients, instead creating a truly natu-

ral range of products from scratch where the needs of the skin are paramount –

I’m a firm believer in celebrating the skin you have, whatever your age.

Wellgreen Lewes was created to offer something

completely different - a skincare business that

avoids chemical ingredients.

For us, it all starts with the plants. We believe that using the best quality

flowers and herbs picked at exactly the optimum moment creates the freshest,

most delicious products.

Whilst living in Cyprus for 7 years I was luckily enough to meet a fan-

tastic herbalist and distiller, Mariam Khan. Over the course of many months

she patiently taught me to distil using an ancient method used throughout the

Levant. It involves a large copper Alembic Still, copious amounts of blossom

and a great deal of patience. I learnt to distil using orange blossom facilitated

by living beside hundreds of orange trees. Every April I picked masses of blos-

som whilst the trees were a hum with honey bees. When orange blossom is dis-

tilled, the orange flower water (hydrosol) produced is actually heavenly.

Even now when I travel back every

year especially to distil, it makes

me giddy with delight. As the hy-

drosol emerges from the Still, the

Neroli essential oil floats to the

top, gradually forming a thick

enough layer to skim off. Having

moved back to the UK making our

own flower waters and essential

oils is still a priority. It means we

can ensure that the flowers and

herbs are not contaminated and

picked at exactly the right moment.

Everything we use is either

grown by us or our friends. As the

seasons turn, we distill violets, or-

ange blossom, daphne odora, blue-

bells, roses, lavender, myrtle, bay

and jasmine to name but a few.

The joy of our work is that we are

not constrained by the need for

acres of monoculturally produced

hybrids, we can choose to distil

whatever we want and when it has

gone, it’s gone until the next sea-

son. For our visitors, Wellgreen

Lewes HQ smells divine for most

of the time.

Having got our essential oils and flower waters, we make a series of prod-

ucts that are constantly evolving. Our Soaps are mild, moisturising, cold pro-

cess and made in small batches of 25 – we only use olive oil with a little coco-

nut oil for added bubble. Most of our soaps only have 4 ingredients – oil, wa-

ter, sodium hydroxide and an essential oil. The scents are entirely natural and

completely delicious. I particularly love the fact that when the soaps warm up

in the shower the scent develops into an all-enveloping scrumptiousness.

We also make Body Butters, which are a wonderful blend of natural, un-

adulterated oils whipped up to make a soft, soothing moisturiser for the whole

body. We developed a Healing Body Butter from locally wild gathered herbs

for those with very dry eczematous skin which works beautifully and then

found it was being bought by athletes who use it to protect their feet on long

runs and to prevent friction discomfort.

Our Face Cream is made to order, we don’t sell it in shops because we don’t

want to have to use a ‘nasty’ preservative. Instead we use minimal, natural

preservation and on receiving an order, make it and send it out the following

day. The difference between our cream and a conventional cream is astonish-

ing. We make the product mindfully and with the consumer rather than the

profit in mind and the product speaks for itself.

We are delighted to work alongside our friend Mark the local bee keeper and

we use his honey and beeswax in all our balms. As another small producer,

Mark’s care for his bees is excellent and the honey he produces is from many of

the flowers we use in our products and it tastes delicious.

We have come to a turning point I think in terms of what

we, as consumers want and we have a very clear choice to make –

do we want to invest in small, conscientious producers who sacri-

fice big profit for quality and ethical productivity or do we want

to support big pharma who create and foster harmful self-image

and supply products increasingly divorced from nature which

have profit not environment at their heart?

It’s the same as the argument for organic food; using products

that are sensitively created from plants that are encouraging bio-

diversity has to be good. Caring for our skin is not beauty frip-

pery, it is about looking after ourselves – we all have to wash

and keep our skin from drying out so perhaps we should think of

it as looking after ourselves with products that don’t cost the

earth – quite literally.

website www.wellgreenlewes.com

facebook https://www.facebook.com/

WellgreenLewes

twitter @wellgreenlewes

phone 079 799 26831

River

Runs

Through

It

/Belgrade/

Although it spreads around two major rivers, Belgrade still did not fully inte-

grate the river banks. The riverbanks in the Belgrade urban area are 200 km

long. That same area also includes 16 river islands. Among them the best

known are: Ada Ciganlija, Veliko ratno ostrvo, Gročanska ada. In view of its

length (2850 km) and the ramified river basin (120 tributaries) the Danube is

one of the largest rivers in the world and the second largest in Europe, after

the river Volga. The course of the Danube through Serbia is 588 km and it is

fully is navigable, making it a natural connection with Germany, Austria,

Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. In the Belgrade area, the course of the Dan-

ube is 60 km: from Stari Banovci to Grocka. The river Sava is 945 km long

and in the Belgrade area its course is 30 km long, from Obrenovac upstream to

its mouth where it empties into the Danube. All the 207 kilometers of the

course of the Sava through Serbia are navigable .

VELIKO RATNO OSTRVO (MAJOR WAR ISLAND)

The island marks the mouth of the Sava as it empties into the Danube.

Throughout the history, the island was an important strategic point either for

the conquest or the defence of Belgrade. For example, during the first siege of

Belgrade in 1521 the Turks launched most of their attacks on Belgrade For-

tress from the island. In liberating Belgrade in 1806 the rebel army headed by

Karađorđe also used the island for military purposes. A similar strategy was

followed by the imperial army of Austria-Hungary during the offensive on

Belgrade in 1915. Today, the Veliko ratno ostrvo is colonized by nature lovers,

and on its northern tip lies the famous Zemun beach called Lido. The island

and the waters around are home of numerous rare species including endan-

gered birds, but also a morphologically and geologically extremely interesting

area.

Liveable

Cities:

Lugano,

Switzerland

Lugano is a lakeside city in Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of south-

ern Switzerland. Part of a temperate micro-climate, Lugano offers palm trees,

picturesque boulevards, stunning views of the lake and the Alps, and plenty of

opportunity for outdoor and indoor activities. Lugano also makes a good base

for visiting other cities and sites in the area. The city is a pleasant place to re-

lax in the summertime and is only half an hour away from Lake Como.

Lugano is small enough to get around on foot, and many of the streets

are pedestrian-only, but the hills above the lakefront are very steep so the bus

or the funicular from the center of town might be a better option on the way

up to the train station if you have a lot of bags. Taxis can be found on the

main roads. Ferries and Funiculars are great options for seeing the views.

The name of the city comes from the Latin „lucus", meaning „sacred for-

est." Archaeological finds have shown that the area was settled by Etruscans

and Celts. In the ninth century the town was subject to the bishop of Como,

who gradually extended his rights there; during the Middle Ages in the com-

plex struggles between Milan and Como, and later between Milan, France and

the Swiss Confederates it changed hands several times and came finally under

Swiss rule in 1513. When the French invaded Switzerland in 1798 they abol-

ished the system of subject areas, and created a canton Lugano, which was re-

named Ticino in 1803.

Super

Natural

Festival

/Belgrade/

SUPERNATURAL is one of the leading environmental

movements in Serbia. Member of United Nations Global

Compact, Slow food, partner of WWF, Friends of the Earth,

DC Environmental Network, Europarc federation, Ministry of

environment Republic of Serbia, City of Belgrade, and other

renowned institutions. Our core values are environment,

education and culture.

Supernatural festival celebrates Mother Earth day and is a fu-

sion of all of our activities. It is an event that gathers variety of

international and domestic environmental organizations,

authentic and organic food producers, a place where you can

have fun listening to good music but also achieve quality edu-

cation. Supernatural festival promotes a lifestyle of love and

harmony with Mother Earth.

Pretty

Funky

Creative

Meet Andjelka, a lovely

girl from central Serbia, a

young creative, a positive soul

who recycles clothes and fabric

by creating jewelry and

fashion accessories.

Last week we had coffee with

Andjelka, and here is what we

talked about:

Nektarina (S)pace: What trig-

gered you to start designing

and creating jewelry and

accessories?

Andjelka: I don’t think any-

thing in particular triggered

me to start designing and cre-

ating jewelry. Ever since I was

a child I liked fiddling with

things, sewing, fixing things.

My grandmother was a seam-

stress, so there were always

threads, needles and pins all

over the house.

Nektarina (S)pace: What materials do you use and why? To what extent do you

like to experiment?

Andjelka: I use everything and anything that can’t be used anymore, but still

has some kind of sentimental value for me. I find that way of recycling, reus-

ing clothes, mixing and matching absolutely amazing.

Nektarina (S)pace: You come from Serbia and the Balkans, the region of

beauty, and often conflict. To what extent do your surroundings and your back-

ground inspire or influence your artwork and your designs?

Andjelka: It is true that Serbia is a country full of contradictions, however I

wouldn’t say that has had any particular influence to my work. I was more

influenced by my family, where crafts were always a part of our lives, and

many members of my family used to (or still do) make things with their own

hands. Both my grandmothers were quite creative, and they probably

influenced me the most.

Nektarina (S)pace: Where do you find your inspiration?

Andjelka: My friends and family inspire me. My work inspires me. I love to

work and create things, and once I create something, it becomes an inspira-

tion, a trigger for me to work and create further.

Nektarina (S)pace: Do you think art and creativity brings people together,

connects them, helps them learn and discover new things? What would you

say is the power behind any kind of art or craft, regardless of whether it's a

hobby or a calling?

Andjelka: Yes, I do think that art connects people, and I think that in art we

have a law of action and reaction. Art moves society to reach further and

achieve more. The true power of art is that it allows us to express ourselves in

a very specific way, that wouldn’t have been possible without art. We all have

that power of creativity, no one can take that away from us, but it is up to us

to find it (within ourselves) and bring it out, to the light of day. By doing so

we can inspire others to let go of their fears and inhibitions. Letting go of

one’s fears and inhibitions allows us to unleash our creativity. At that point

anyone and everyone can become an artist.

The

Olive

Tree

Inspiration

“Embracing the nature” summarizes the arts and crafts of a small

manufacture in Pula, Istria (Croatia). They produce jewelry and items for

home and office, and they are all made from olive tree.

To find out more about their work and products, visit:

http://olivetta.biz

Continued →

According to the 4th-century BC father of botany, Theophrastus, olive trees

ordinarily attained an age of about 200 years, he mentions that the very olive

tree of Athena still grew on the Acropolis; it was still to be seen there in the

2nd century AD; and when Pausanias was shown it, ca 170 AD, he reported :

"Legend also says that when the Persians fired Athens the olive was burnt down,

but on the very day it was burnt it grew again to the height of two cubits." Indeed,

olive suckers sprout readily from the stump, and the great age of some existing

olive trees shows that it was perfectly possible that the olive tree of the Acropolis

dated to the Bronze Age.

The leafy branches of the olive tree – the olive branch as a symbol of abun-

dance, glory and peace – were used to crown the victors of friendly games and

bloody wars. As emblems of benediction and purification, they were also ritu-

ally offered to deities and powerful figures; some were even found in Tutan-

khamen's tomb.

info@olivetta.biz

www.olivetta.biz

http://www.facebook.com/Maslinovo.drvo

twitter.com/Olivetta1

Delish!

Veggie

Cottage

Pie

· 1 tbs vegetable oil

· 1 onion, finely chopped

· 2 celery stalks, chopped

· 1 large carrot, chopped

· 2 garlic cloves, crushed

· 2 tbs sundried tomato pesto

· 1 cup (250ml) tomato passata (sieved tomatoes)

· 1 bay leaf

· 1 tbs chopped thyme

· 1 cup (250ml) vegetable stock

· 400g can lentils, rinsed, drained

· 800g potatoes, peeled, chopped

· 100g unsalted butter

· 1/2 cup (125ml) milk

· 2 egg yolks

· 100g grated cheddar (see note)

Ingredients & Preparation

Preheat the oven to 200°C. In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat and cook

onion for 1-2 minutes. Add celery, carrot and garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add pesto, passata, bay, thyme and stock.

Simmer gently for 15 minutes until vegetables are cooked. Stir in lentils and

season, then transfer to a 1.2-litre baking dish. Meanwhile, cook potatoes in

boiling salted water until tender.

Drain and mash. Stir in butter, milk, yolks and cheese. Spread over lentil mix-

ture and roughen top with a fork. Bake for 15 minutes or until bubbling and

golden.

·

Urban Ideas:

Poetry in

Public

Transport

/Zagreb/

Sources, Notes and Acknowledgments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitvice_Lakes_National_Park

http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/en/films-tv/planet-ocean

http://www.beograd.rs/cms/view.php?id=201830

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2013/01/no-borders.html

http://www.za-grad.com/ideje/158/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?

fbid=511283925600538&set=a.504550639607200.1073741829.503074389754825&

type=1&theater

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-Balkan-Peninsula-255002.html

http://www.supernatural.rs/about-us/

www.businessgreen.com/bg/review/2235992/what-has-nature-ever-done-for-us-

the-answer-is-a-hell-of-a-lot

http://wikitravel.org/en/Lugano

http://www.swissworld.org/en/geography/towns/lugano/

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/

archive/2013/01/21/guest-blog-by-tony-juniper-what-has-nature-ever-done-

for-us.aspx

http://ocean.goodplanet.org/?lang=en

http://www.goodplanet.org/exposition-planete-ocean-une-premiere-escale-au-

havre/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?

fbid=10151520252189512&set=a.382543644511.159651.113972689511&type=1&

theater

http://picafric.com

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3479/lentil+vegetable+cottage+pie+vegetarian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive

Missed an issue? If you missed any of our previous issues,

you can get them at this link:

http://www.education4sustainability.org/?page_id=846

Coming up

in May

International Day of Biological Diversity

World Nature Heritage Site: Western Caucasus

Education 4 Sustainability:

Positive Examples: Armenia - The Armenia Tree Project

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and

Development

and much more

Nektarina (S)pace is a web magazine published monthly

by Nektarina Non Profit, a non governmental,

non profit organization registred in Croatia.

ISSN 1847-6694

www.nektarinanonprofit.com

www.education4sustainability.org