The science week on the Neretva, in which more than 50 scientists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region and Europe participated, has ended, and the research results will be included in the study for the protection of this area, which is currently being prepared. This research was organized by the Center for Environment in partnership with the international organizations Riverwatch and Euronatur as part of the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign.
During their seven-day stay on the Upper Neretva, the scientists investigated the biodiversity of this area and collected samples that they will process in the coming period, and for now it is confirmed that they have found numerous protected and valuable species.
We knew that bringing a large group of highly specialized experts on biodiversity to a place like the upper Neretva River will generate surprising discoveries. “What makes this river system so special, even at the European scale, are the many different types of aquatic but also river-associated terrestrial habitat types.”, says Prof. Dr. Gabriel Singer, lead scientist on the Neretva Science Week.
According to Dr. Singer, the Upper Neretva is specific for its unique riparian forests which are a prime example of how a river forms a wide range of aquatic, semi-terrestrial and terrestrial habitats, and with these supports a high biodiversity.
“Such habitat types are rarely conserved in and around European waterways, yet here they have remained in a natural state. I expect that even our limited effort of only a few days will uncover some species new for this area or even new to science. Some scientists said there were moments they felt like working in the Amazon rainforest. “ And yet we did not even get a good chance to sample the inaccessible canyon section downstream of Ulog, where maybe more surprises await discovery.”
The upper stretch of the Neretva River is threatened by plans for the construction of hydropower plants. One large hydropower plant is already under construction, three more are planned downstream, and the construction of a system of seven small hydropower plants is also planned. Numerous hydropower plants are also planned on almost all tributaries of the Neretva River. If these plans are implemented, this unique river system would be completely destroyed. In an effort to prevent such a scenario, Center for Environment launched last year an initiative to protect part of this area, which was accepted by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of the Republic of Srpska.
“Now follows the battle for the Neretva with arguments that will be part of the protection study, and then follows the declaration of a protected area on the territory of Republika Srpska where the initiative was launched. During the science week that is behind us, numerous scientists, journalists and our colleagues, with whom we are fighting together to preserve the wild rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, became convinced of the importance of this river system”, pointed out Jelena Ivanić from the Center for Environment and said that this event “gave all the activists a wind in back, them to fight even harder and louder against the harmful hydropower projects that are planned in this area”.
Photo Gallery: © Vladimir Tadić
