SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA - Environmental organizations and experts are calling for a significant increase in the percentage of protected areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, less than 3% of the country’s territory is designated as protected, far below the European Union's average of almost 30%.
This Tuesday, representatives from government institutions, environmental organizations, and international experts gathered in Sarajevo to identify the barriers and challenges Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) faces in building a functional system of nature protection. The event highlighted the Czech Republic’s experience with nature protection and explored how these insights could be applied to BiH’s efforts to expand its protected areas.
“BiH is a home to some of Europe’s most diverse ecosystems, including dense forests, river systems, and unique wetlands. However, these areas face growing threats from deforestation, habitat destruction, pollution, unsustainable land use and industrial activity. The country´s representatives have to make a stand against the exploitation of nature, prioritize environmental protection and rights of local people and commit to expanding the percentage of protected nature. A good way to start is with the implementation of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas and to support people from local initiatives that work on protection of nature in the communities” says Zuzana Vachunova, an international project coordinator from a Czech NGO Arnika.
Key presentations included remarks by officials from BiH´s Ministries of Environment as well as by the Czech environmental expert Mrs. Eva Volfova, a former Deputy Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic and an ecologist.
Volfová explained the structure of protected areas in the Czech Republic, with its institutional basis, and the way in which Natura 2000 sites are designed. Among other things, she described the process of introducing the Natura 2000 system, which in the Czech Republic required not only the willingness to declare protected areas, but also intensive five-year field mapping, during which experts identified important species.
The discussion centered on the importance of spatial planning and on plans for new protected areas in the country.And it is precisely the declaration of new protected areas in their localities that 12 civic association, which have gathered on Wednesday in Banja Luka (BiH), are striving for. The meeting of environmental NGOs was a follow-up of the Sarajevo event, where people got together to share experience from their work and collectively pressure the institutions to accept their initiatives and design new protected areas.
"Civil society organizations in BiH contribute significantly to the establishment of protection in certain areas. A large number of research projects and initiatives come from this sector, and we also have positive examples of management. It is important for institutions to support these initiatives and direct efforts to ensure their fulfilment. It is essential for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its vast natural wealth and biodiversity, to have a much higher percentage of protected areas, not just 3%, which is below all standards," comments Vladimir Topić, coordinator from the energy and climate change programme of Banja Luka-based Centre for Environment (CZZS).
Spring of the Sana river are not only an unique, beautiful place, but from 2021, thanks to the joint effort of non-governmental organisations including Arnika also a protected natural monument. Photo Majda Slámová / Arnika
Altogether 23 civic initiatives for protection of various natural sites are now submitted on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many of them in places where we are now facing threads such as plans for mining or new hydropower plants, as for example on the location of Majevica in the northeastern part of BiH where the locals are calling for its protection and at the same time is threatened by the danger of degradation by a planned lithium exploitation project.
The events were organized as a part of the project “Jewels of nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina” supported by the Transition Promotion Programme of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ and jointly implemented by the Czech NGO Arnika and the BiH´s NGOs Centar za životnu sredinu, Center Dr. Stjepan Bolkay, and Aarhus centar Sarajevo. Together they strive to promote the beautiful nature of the country. In cooperation with local and international experts, they are organizing biological surveys of five selected sites around the rivers, with the ultimate goal of putting these areas under protection. These surveys have already enriched the knowledge of Bosnia and Herzegovina's nature with new species, including a butterfly not previously recorded in the region and 53 species of arachnids new to BiH.
For more information, please contact Arnika's international PR officer, Jan Kašpárek: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
