Transcript Lastovo – heading for sustainable development

Tomislav Skračić, MA
Undergraduate English
Course for
MARITIME MANAGERS
5th Semester
Essential reading:
 T. Skračić, Waypoint – English Textbook for Maritime
Students, Faculty of Maritime Studies, Split 2010,
Units 22-28
 T. Trappe & G. Tullis, Intelligent Business, Longman
2005, Units 12-14
endemic plants and animals,
dinghy, islander,
monk seal, mammal,
pine forest, brunch,
Jabuka pit, lobster,
octopus, olive oil,
shrimp, sea bream,
award-winning wines,
grouper, common dentex,
medieval stone towns,
conserve / preserve / protect
terraced hills, cove, resort,
biodiversity,
boon, birth rate,
sustainable / uncontrolled
general practitioner,
development,
insular community,
mass / intensive tourism,
pristine / untouched / unspoiled / immaculate,
resources, cultural heritage,
natural wealth, karst
NGO

Lastovo island belongs to the group of more than 1,000
islands that stretch down Croatia’s southern coast.
Closed to the outside world for much of the last 50
years, a visit to Lastovo is like stepping back in time —
medieval stone towns, terraced fields still worked by
hand, large expanses of untouched forest, quiet coves
and beaches, and very few people. No wonder the
island is the hottest new destination for tourists weary of
the crowded resorts and overdeveloped coasts of Italy,
France, Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

The invasion of visitors is a
boon for the islanders. In the
1990s, almost 50 per cent of
the population left for the
mainland or emigrated
following the collapse of
communism and the area’s
fish processing industry. The
remaining population is
getting older and the birth
rate is low. In 2008, one
baby was born; there were
sixteen funerals.

Employment opportunities are now limited, and services
such as ferry links, health care, and schools have been
reduced. Presently there are just 60 children attending
the primary school. One general practitioner and two
nurses provide primary health care for 750 islanders
who have to go to the mainland for specialist medical
care and treatment.

In case of delivery or any other emergency, they rely on
army and police vessels and helicopters but they are
not available in all times and weathers. Most of those
remaining see tourism as a way to revive the local
economy.

The tourists are a double-edged sword. While they
supply much-needed income to the small island
communities, they also threaten the natural beauty that
attracts them in the first place. The potential for damage
is huge. The Mediterranean is already the world's
leading tourist destination, with 220 million visitors each
year. The number is expected to rise to 350 million by
2025 – more people than the entire population of North
America. Although Croatia currently only receives a
small fraction of the tourists, the country is expected to
be amongst the top three destinations by 2020.

Lastovo, like most of
the islands, simply does
not have enough water,
infrastructure, or
transport links with the
mainland to support the
kind of intensive
tourism common in
other parts of the
Mediterranean.

Croatian insular communities are at the crossroads
where they need to choose between mass tourism and
promoting tourist activities which would respect
authentic resources of the area so that the unique
natural and cultural heritage would become a
recognisable product. Residing in the old, refurnished
houses, traditional meals, going fishing with the local
people, picking grapes and olives as part of the
experience, are just some of the initiatives that are
sustainable.

Already, holiday homes and tourist apartments, many of
which are built illegally, are spreading out from the
island towns. Developers too are buying up land,
presumably to build large resorts. It is not hard to see
that if the building continues unchecked, then the
Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea could eventually look
the same as the Italian side: completely urbanised from
north to south. This would not just destroy the character
of the islands – it would also destroy one of the largest
contiguous stretches of pristine nature in the entire
Mediterranean.
1.
Answer the following questions:
a)
Have you ever been to Lastovo? Why not? If yes –
share your experience.
What do you know about Lastovo? (history, natural
and cultural heritage, people…)
Why are tourists increasingly attracted by the
Dalmatian islands?
Explain why tourists are a double-edged sword?
b)
c)
d)
2. Make sentences using these elements:
a)
b)
c)
Group A: be home to, be dedicated / committed to, in
the long term, unless.
Group B: be expected to, limited opportunities, shortterm, preserve / conserve / protect.
Group C: year-round, threaten, marine diversity, rich /
abundant in.