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Dubrovnik Joins WWF’s Earth Hour This Saturday

By blocking accent lighting in the northern and western part of the city walls, on the City Hall and the Rector’s Palace, the City of Dubrovnik will join this year’s Earth Hour, WWF’s landmark movement. During this Saturday, March 24th) @ 8.30 pm the City of Dubrovnik will exclude the accent lighting for one hour, inviteing all citizens, individuals and business entities to join the initiative by extinguishing the lighting in their homes etc.

Earth Hour, WWF’s landmark movement, is set to once again unite millions of people around the world to show their commitment to the planet. As our one shared home faces the dual challenge of climate change and plummeting biodiversity, the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment aims to mobilize individuals, businesses and governments to be a part of the conversation and solutions needed to build a healthy, sustainable future – and planet – for all.

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In the past decade, Earth Hour has inspired millions to support and participate in critical climate and conservation projects led by WWF and many others, helping drive climate policy, awareness and action. Among its highlights, the movement has helped in the creation of a 3.4 million hectare marine-protected area in Argentina, a 2,700-hectare Earth Hour forest in Uganda and helped pass new legislation for the protection of seas and forests in Russia.
In 2018, WWF and Earth Hour teams around the world will be using the movement to highlight the environmental issues most relevant in their country or region.

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In Adria region this Earth Hour is focused on the protection of our last free-flowing rivers from hydropower development. In Croatia on Drava River 2 hydropower plants are foreseen to be constructed. In Slovenia we are just about to finalize the petition to save the Mura River from 8 hydropower plants. In Albania our focus is on Valbona River where currently 2 hydropower plants are being built with plans to build even more. In Bosnia and Herzegovina our focus is on wetlands and urgent need for their revitalisation. Due to all this, WWF Adria has decided to #Connect2rivers this Earth Hour!

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Freshwater species are in the biggest decline of all species in the world – 81% in last 50 years – mostly due to building dams which disrupt connectivity of rivers. This decrease is more than 100 times faster than the decline of terrestrial species. With our freshwater ecosystems already compromised by currently operating hydropower plants that were built without environmental safeguards in place, and more than 2.700 new dams planned in Adria region this is one of the most significant threats to our biodiversity. Losing healthy and well-functioning freshwater ecosystems is diminishing our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Visit Earth Hour to know what’s happening in locations around the world and read individuals’ stories about what they are doing for our planet. This is our time to secure a healthy, sustainable and climate-resilient future for all.