On the occasion of the International Wetlands Day, environmental activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina call on the competent institutions to protect Livanjsko polje, one of the three areas in BiH protected by the International Ramsar Convention, which has been waiting for protection under domestic legislation for years.
The bill on declaring a protected landscape “Livanjsko polje” has been in the drawers of the municipalities of Livno, Bosansko Grahovo and Tomislavgrad for several months now, and Zoran Šeremet from WWF Adria points out that the competent authorities in municipalities / cities and counties have possesed for some time all the documentation needed to declare Livanjsko field protected.
“However, no one has commented on this so far, nor has there been a serious discussion. Additional efforts are needed at all levels, as protected areas preserve not only natural resources but also cultural and historical values, improve people’s physical and mental health and promote sustainable development. Therefore, we will continue to actively advocate, but also offer support to local authorities in the direction of achieving protection of this area.“
Nataša Crnković from Center for Environment reminds that Livanjsko field, like all karst fields, is a kind of phenomenon with a rich network of groundwater and surface water in occasional and constant flows, rich flora (858 vascular plants, 12 of which are endemic) and fauna.
“It is an impressive fact that 269 out of the 351 bird species recorded in the whole of BiH have been registered in this area so far, so it is high time we put arguments about the biological and cultural importance of this area in the function of protection and long-term sustainable management.”This extremely valuable area suffers from great anthropogenic pressures due to very low awareness of the population, which is confirmed by Goran Topić from the Ornithological Socierty Naše Ptice, who states that during the field work in the Livanjsko polje, more than 140 illegal landfills were located, more than half of which are larger of 100 m2, and some exceed an area of 50,000 m2.
“Landfills contain various types of construction, municipal and animal waste. Due to the fact that Livanjsko polje is flooded at certain times of the year, various types of poisons and chemicals enter the water, which contaminate water and large areas of land, which further directly endangers the health and lives of people, both domestic and wild animals. We should not ignore the negative impact of uncontrolled waste disposal on tourism, which has been developing intensively in this area in recent years.”An even bigger and perhaps more serious problem is fires, which occur every year as a result of uncontrolled burning of crop residues, dry grass and weeds on unmown meadows and pastures. Data taken from satellite images show that an average of one third of the fields are burned each year, and from 2012 until today, more than three quarters of the fields have suffered. Fires often affect parts of the peat bog in Ždralovac, which from the biodiversity aspect is probably the most important part of the field. In addition, peat bogs accumulate huge amounts of CO2, and its combustion releases greenhouse gases, soot and other harmful substances that increase the frequency of respiratory problems. It is not uncommon for fires to affect property and can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.
In addition to all the problems and threats, conscientious citizens from the local community are a positive example of how to preserve and promote this specific area. Thus, Naša baština (Our Heritage) Association has been operating in the karst fields for many years, and has constantly pointed out the problems of fires, landfills, poaching and other illegal activities.
“In the past three years, we have dedicated ourselves to solving problems, so through various projects we have provided firefighting equipment for 30 farmers, then in cooperation with local activists called tomislavgrad.public we collected over 20 tons of waste in 50 settlements in the Tomislavgrad municipality. Also, in cooperation with the speleological society Mijatovi Dvori, we have rehabilitated various speleological objects from waste, rehabilitated illegal landfills in cooperation with the local communities Brišnik and Stipanići and we have done much more in the field of scientific and research work. Today, the results are visible in all directions, and most of all in the awareness of the local population about harming their environment and themselves,” said Ante Braovac from the association Our Heritage.
Ante Perković points out that Livanjsko polje is a great tourist potential, who together with his wife organizes a canoe safari and bird-watching on the river Sturba.
“Along with wild horses, which are presented as the number 1 tourist destination in BiH on numerous platforms, there is also the largest wetland in BiH for great biodiversity, where 77% of all bird species in BiH have been recorded. When we add to this that bird-watching is the fastest growing branch of tourism today, then we come to the conclusion that the proclamation of protection would further contribute to the development of tourism. This largest karst polje in the world offers numerous tourist potentials, chasms, pits, caves, three permanent rivers and some occasional ones, two lakes where people can swim, plus several beautiful mountains in the area. When the protection is declared, we can only imagine how much the community would have from further tourism development, because, starting from myself, I know how tempting it is to visit a national park, nature park or similar.“
In the coming period, environmental associations will continue to demand from the competent local and cantonal authorities more serious steps that will lead to the final protection of this area.