The geography of Croatia is defined by its location—it is described as a part of Central Europe and Southeast Europe, a part of the Balkans and Mitteleuropa. Croatia's territory covers 56,594 km2 (21,851 sq mi), making it the 127th largest country in the world. Bordered by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in the east, Slovenia in the west, Hungary in the north and Montenegro and the Adriatic Sea in the south, it lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E. Croatia's territorial waters encompass 18,981 square kilometres (7,329 sq mi) in a 12 nautical miles wide zone, and its internal waters located within the baseline cover an additional 12,498 square kilometres (4,826 sq mi).
The Herzegovina-Neretva Canton is one of 10 cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Dubrovnik-Neretva County is the southernmost county of Croatia, located in south Dalmatia. The county seat is Dubrovnik and other large towns are Korčula, Metković, Opuzen and Ploče. The Municipality of Neum, which belongs to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, divides the county in two parts which are connected only by the Pelješac Bridge. The southern part of the county consists of Dubrovnik and the surrounding area, including the Pelješac peninsula, and the islands of Korčula, Lastovo, Mljet, Šipan, Lopud and Koločep. The northern part of the county includes the Neretva Delta, the Baćina lakes north of Ploče, and a swath of hinterland near the southernmost slopes of Biokovo and around the hill of Rujnica. The northern part of the Mljet island is a national park. The Lastovo archipelago is a designated nature park. The southernmost tip of the county is the Prevlaka peninsula at the border with Montenegro. It is the only Croatian county that borders Montenegro.
The Neretva, also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four HE power-plants with large dams provide flood protection, power and water storage. It is recognized for its natural environment and diversity of its landscape.
Metković is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the river Neretva and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Hutovo Blato is a nature reserve and bird reserve located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is primarily composed of marshlands that were created by the underground aquifer system of the Krupa River. It is fed from the limestone massif of Ostrvo that divides the Deransko Lake and Svitavsko Lake. The reserve is on the list of BirdLife International's Important Bird Areas. It is the largest reserve of its kind in the region, in terms of both size and diversity. It is home to over 240 types of migratory birds and dozens that make their permanent home in the sub-Mediterranean wetlands surrounding Deransko Lake. In the migration season, tens of thousands of birds fill the lake and its surroundings.
Tràm Chim National Park is a national park in the Plain of Reeds in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The park was created to restore a degraded wetland, in order to protect several rare birds, especially the sarus crane --a species listed on the IUCN Red List. It is also a designated wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Gornje Podunavlje Special Nature Reserve is a large protected area of wetland in the northwest of Serbia, on the Danube's left bank. It comprises two large marshes, Monoštorski Rit and Apatinski Rit and vast forests, meadows, ponds, swamps and the Danube's meanders, including 66 km (41 mi) of the Danube course. It is a part of the trans-boundary biosphere reserve "Mura-Drava-Danube", a five country project, dubbed the "Amazon of Europe".
Matsalu National Park is a nature reserve and national park situated in Lääne and Pärnu Counties, Estonia. Matsalu National Park spans an area of 486.1 km2 (187.7 sq mi), comprising Matsalu Bay, the Kasari River delta, the village of Matsalu and surrounding areas.
Upper Neretva, is the upper course of the Neretva river, including vast mountainous area surrounding the Neretva, with numerous human settlements, peaks and forests, numerous streams and well-springs, three major glacial lakes near the river and even more scattered across the mountains of Treskavica and Zelengora, in a wider area of the Upper Neretva with its flora and fauna.
Lonjsko Polje is the largest protected wetland in both Croatia and the entire Danube basin. It covers an area of 505.6 square kilometres (195.2 sq mi), extending along the river Sava from the areas east of Sisak, the lower course of the river Lonja for which it is named, to the areas west of Nova Gradiška, along the course of the river Veliki Strug.
Lake Vrana in Dalmatia is the largest lake in Croatia. It is a designated nature park, a kind of protected area in Croatia. It is located in Zadar County and Šibenik-Knin County, between the towns and municipalities of Benkovac, Pirovac, Pakoštane, Stankovci and Tisno.
The Port of Ploče is a seaport in Ploče, Croatia, near the mouth of the Neretva river on the Adriatic Sea coast. It was formally opened in 1945 after a railway was built as a supply route to connect the site with industrial facilities in the Sarajevo and Mostar areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was then part of Yugoslavia. As of 2010, it ranked as the second largest cargo port in Croatia—after the Port of Rijeka—with a cargo throughput of 4.5 million tonnes, consisting mostly of general cargo and bulk cargo, including 20,420 TEU Containers. In 2008, the Port of Ploče recorded 2,555 ship arrivals. It is managed by the Port of Ploče Authority.
The Ebro Delta is the delta region of the Ebro River in the southwest of the Province of Tarragona in Catalonia. It is on the Mediterranean Sea, and is the northernmost point, by some designations, of the Gulf of Valencia. Its location per Ramsar site designation is 40°43′N0°44′E.
The Register of Protected Natural Values of the Republic of Croatia has been created according to the Nature Protection Act in 2005. The register is being administered by the Administration for Nature Protection within the Croatian Ministry of Culture. The register serves as a reference database and unique official data source about protected areas in Croatia. The data in this register is public with the exception of special cases of confidentiality regarding the position of certain protected natural goods. The Nature Protection Act stipulates nine categories of protected areas.
Operation Jackal, also known as Operation June Dawns, was an offensive of the Bosnian War fought between a combined Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian Defence Council (HVO) army against the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) from 7–26 June 1992. The offensive was a Croatian pre-emptive strike against the VRS, a Bosnian Serb military formed in May 1992 from Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) units that were stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The HV concluded that the JNA offensive operations of April and May 1992, resulting in the capture of Kupres and much of the Neretva River valley south of Mostar, were aimed at capturing or threatening the Croatian Port of Ploče and possibly Split. To counter this threat, the Croatian leadership deployed the HV, under the command of General Janko Bobetko, to the "Southern Front" including the area in which Operation Jackal was to be conducted.
The fish fauna of the Neretva river basin in the western Balkans is representative of the Dinaric karst region and characterized by several endemic and endangered species.
Ante Šprlje is a Croatian lawyer who served as the Minister of Justice in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Tihomir Orešković and Andrej Plenković from 22 January 2016 until being dismissed by Plenković on 27 April 2017.
