,,A protected polje is better for everyone’’ campaign, aiming at the protection of the Livanjsko polje, initiated by the Center for Environment, has begun with a workshop in Bosansko Grahovo on October the 25th, and continued in Tomislavgrad the next day.
The initiative for the protection of the Livanjsko polje aims to protect 45,324.82 hectares of fields, which would make the Livanjsko polje to the largest protected area in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Livanjsko polje is the largest flooding karst field in the world, and contains the largest peatland in the Balkans. Despite being recognised at an international level through the declaration of Ramsar areas (wetland of international importance) and IBA area (important bird areas), Livanjsko polje does not have any form of recognition or protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For over 10 years, activists and associations have been working to promote the Livansko polje and are demanding it’s legal protection. A big step was made in 2021 by developing the Professional assessment for the proclamation of a protected category 5 area – Protected landscape Livanjsko polje, as well as the draft Law on proclamation of the Livanjsko polje a protected landscape, by which all the needed documents have been prepared.
Legal protection is necessary to be approved by the municipalities of Bosansko Grahovo, Tomislavgrad and the city of Livno, for it to be declared protected on a cantonal level.
A year after the submission, the necessary documentation has still not been put on the agenda in any level, which is the main reason for the initiation of this campaign: to start and complete the protection process through a participatory inclusion of the local population. For this reason, the campaign began with workshops for all interested participants in Bosansko Grahovo and Tomislavgrad, modelled according to the conference held in Livno in March.
At the workshops, Emina Zečić and Amela Džananović from ‘’Cener 21’’ presented a professional assessment for protection on which cultural and natural resources in the Livanjsko polje quailfy for protection. Then Sonja Kosanović, legal officer of Center for Environment, presented the “Operational Protocol in case of Open Fire”, created specifically for the local population in order to properly address the competent institutions in case of fires, which are very common in the field and cause huge damage.
On the workshop in Bosansko Grahovo we were joined by Goran and Biljana Topić from the ornithological society ‘’Naše Ptice’’ (Our Birds), who have also been working in the Livanjsko polje. They spoke about harmful and unsustainable practices in the Livanjsko polje, with a highlight on fire, waste disposal and poaching.
In Tomislavgrad, a presentation was held by Vinko Šarac in front of the Franciscan Museum of Tomislavgrad and Speleological Society Mijatovi Dvori, who presented their exceptional work and findings in the Duvanjsko polje, as well as the challenges they face.
Center for Environment is working on the protection and promotion of the Livanjsko polje, together with the Ornithological society ‘’Naše Ptice’’ and the International Foundation ‘’Euronatur’’, thanks to the support of the DIMFE Initiative.