Cave Cleanup

The Intervention

Arrive at the site of this project before it started getting cleaned up and it’s easy to imagine you’ve deliriously found yourself in the aftermath of a tsunami. The shocking scene of waste and scrap that was tangled and stacked formed a mountain of waste at the cave’s mouth. The history of this site and how it came to accumulate about 16 cubic m3 of solid waste, is a familiar one of neglect of the natural world. Rummage through the mess and you would find an assortment of modern society’s mark: plastics, metals, rubber, wood, and domestic appliances.

Although such scenes in any natural area would provide a compelling reason to act, there are few places where a cleanup seemed to be as urgent because this cave provides habitat for an array of very unique and threatened species. The first part of the cleanup was carried out over recent years by local cavers who managed to remove most of the waste that lies above the water level. However, large amounts of dangerous waste remained, especially in the underwater section which is where most of the cave animals are found. Due to the difficulty of removing waste from this place and to the lack of funding for this kind of work, the water inside the cave was poised to continue being polluted if we didn't intervene.

To remove waste from the dry part of the cave we relied on the help of local cavers who set up an efficient way of getting the waste out of the cave using a set up of ropes and winches. For submerged waste, a more complex operation involving cave divers was required to bring these large objects to the surface.

Much has already been done by these cavers and cave divers to reach the point where this intervention was possible. By researching and monitoring this and other caves in the region they have acquired a wealth of knowledge and experience which, together with their passion to protect the unexplored underworld, were central to the success of this project.

Unique but forgotten about species

The Rupečica-Šmitovo cave system, which is the one we are focusing on, provides habitat for some remarkably interesting species. The olm is probably the most famous among them. It’s a blind cave salamander that can live up to a century and survive for a decade without feeding. It is among the most evolutionarily distinct amphibians known to science meaning that there is nothing else like it on earth. It is also one of the 10 species that David Attenborough would select to be saved from extinction if he had to choose. Another interesting species found here is the Croatian dace a small freshwater fish species that rely on this habitat to sustain its last remaining population. And a final species that needs mentioning is the Ogulin cave sponge. This is the world’s only known species of cave-dwelling freshwater sponge and it is known only from a few caves around this area. The importance of saving such species can be likened to our own survival, a more diverse world is a more adaptable one. By protecting all evolutions on the tree of life, we increase our chances of one day benefiting from their distinctiveness.   

Water pollution

The lack of awareness of this cave’s (and many others) wonderful and rich biodiversity, has sadly meant local people have treated it as a waste disposal site for centuries. Without this intervention, toxic chemicals will continue to degrade water quality and once these chemicals enter the cave system through the water they can no longer be physically removed and may continue affecting the ecosystem for a long time. On top of this, the submerged caves in this region provide drinking water for the surrounding area and if they continue being contaminated this could end up having negative health consequences.

Waste collection in this part of Coratia has already improved to the point where it is more convenient to dispose of these items appropriately than to throw them into the cave pit. Therefore we expect that the cave will be cleaned up for good and that the positive impact will be felt over the long term. Nonetheless, we plan to monitor the cave periodically to confirm if this is the case or if additional measures are needed.