During the previous three years, through the project “Steps towards the protection of the Neretva tributaries: Buna, Bunica, Bregava and Trebižat, BiH”, the Center for Environment carried out a series of activities with the aim of contributing to the protection of these rivers and pointed out their unique biodiversity and potential for the development of local communities. Although the project is ending, activities to protect these rivers, where numerous harmful projects are planned, will continue.
“As part of this project, we launched an initiative to protect the Buna channels, which are a karst phenomenon and a valuable geo-hydrological part of the ecosystem of the wider area. The special importance of this area is given by numerous endemic and rare species, which are on the Red List of Fauna and the Red List of Flora of FBiH, as well as species of international importance covered by the IUCN Red List and the supplements of the Directive on Habitats and Birds”, said Dragana Kovačić Jošić, project coordinator at the Center for Environment. “Advocating the protection of this area will continue, because protected areas are important, both for the preservation of plant and animal species and their habitats, and for the development of local communities within and around them, because they contribute to prosperity and can economically enrich the region in which they live”.
During the duration of the project, field surveys of biodiversity were conducted in order to collect data on the presence and distribution of endemic, endangered, protected species, species of international importance, as well as data on the threat of biodiversity. A short video titled “4 veins of the Neretva river” was recorded, in which the results of these researches were presented in an informative and educational manner. The researchers expressed their opinion and emphasized the importance of preserving and protecting the researched localities, but also drew attention to the pressures on biodiversity that have been identified in this area.
The results of the research were summarized in the publication “Biodiversity of Buna, Bunica, Bregava and Trebižat – Biodiversity research and problem identification” which was promoted in Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Mostar. Consultative workshops were held in the local communities along the mentioned tributaries of the Neretva, in which all interested parties participated (primarily the local population who live near these localities and use the rivers as a central point of their activities). They discussed the problems that lead to the disruption of the normal state of these rivers, the ways in which they use this river, what they think is the most important thing to protect, but also what they think will change by protecting this area and what consequences it would have for them. Also, meetings with decision makers and local organizations were continuously held during the duration of the project.
The project “Steps towards the protection of Neretva tributaries: Buna, Bunica, Bregava and Trebižat, BiH” was implemented with the support of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).