Within the project “Steps towards the protection of Neretva tributaries: Buna, Bunica, Bregava and Trebižat”, the Center for Environment together with the Ecological association Majski Cvijet is working to achieve long-term protection and sustainable use of these rivers and to educate local communities about the benefits of protected areas with the support of Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. With this aim, we have also researched the unique and valuable biodiversity of these rivers, that is, several groups of organisms in this area (flora and vegetation, birds, bryophytes, amphibians and reptiles, butterflies, aquatic macroinvertebrates and mammals). We present the researchers who helped us to reach important results and data about the biodiversity of this area and who represent a strong argument in advocating the protection of these tributaries of the divine river Neretva. This is their review of the beauty of these tributaries, but also of the problems they observed on the ground.
Đorđije Milanović, flora and vegetation expert: “A particularly important link for the protection of plant and animal species is the protection of their habitats.” Only adequate preservation of the habitat in an unchanged or approximately original form guarantees the conditions for normal growth and development of living beings that have adapted to such specific life circumstances, as prevail along the rivers of Herzegovina. Preservation of our rivers is imposed as a priority above all priorities, both for the preservation of nature and for the survival and remaining of people in these areas.”
Goran Topić, bird expert: “Birds are a very good indicator of the state of the environment because they quickly react to its disturbance. Any intervention on the riverbed that leads to a change in the habitat has a negative impact on all bird species present.”
Jovana Pantović, expert on bryophytes: “From the aspect of maintaining bryophlora, especially those species that are rare, endangered and those for which, according to international standards, Bosnia and Herzegovina has international responsibility, within the studied watershed, it would be best to prevent the construction of MHE.”
Saudin Merdan, expert on amphibians and reptiles: “In the researched area of the Buna, Bunica, Bregave and Trebižat rivers, a number of anthropogenic impacts have been recorded that directly affect the habitat and populations of amphibians and reptiles in this area and represent a threat to their long-term survival. The rivers in this part of Herzegovina represent complex systems that offer habitats for some of the most important species of herpetofauna in our country.”
Vanja Marković, expert on aquatic macroinvertebrates: ”The greatest diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates is present in Buna and Bunica (72 taxa), while 61 and 60 respectively of taxa recorded on Trebižat, i.e., Bregava. The locality with the greatest diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates is located on Bunica and is characterized by a community composed of as many as 41 taxa. On the other hand, the localities with the poorest macro zoobenthos community were recorded on the Bregava River. Relatively poor communities (13 taxa) were also found in two localities of the Trebižat River.”
Slaven Filipović, expert on insects (butterflies): “Butterflies are a very sensitive group and a reliable bioindicator of the state of the environment, especially when it comes to pollution and habitat destruction. The planned construction of mini-hydropower plants would certainly have unforeseeable consequences for many species, and therefore directly or indirectly for the butterfly fauna.”
Dejan Radošević, mammal expert: “Although mammals are predominantly terrestrial animals, their diet is tied to watercourses, which enable the production of numerous a link in the food chain, species that are directly dependent on aquatic habitats for their reproductive cycle, diet or habitat. Numerous species of bats come out of their shelters every evening and feed on the multitude of insects that swarm along Buna, Bunica, Bregava and Trebižat. All of this constitutes one ecosystem, tightly intertwined with numerous relationships between living and non-living nature. Rarely does any intervention in nature disrupt this harmonious relationship to such an extent as the construction of hydro-energy infrastructure and the subsequent operation of such facilities.”
