Bosnia and Herzegovina is a complex state consisting of

							    REPORT ON THE STATUS AND NEEDS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION IN
                         BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

                              January 25 – March 15, 2002




Introduction

The Regional Environmental Centre for Bosnia and Herzegovina (REC BiH), with
financial support of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
and in the frame of the REReP Project 1.9 “Capacity Building for EU Approximation
in South Eastern Europe”, has prepared the country report for Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The REReP Project 1.9 aims to assist the countries of South Eastern
Europe (SEE) to quickly develop their capacities for EU approximation.

The report was realised based on contacts with relevant ministries and non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), literature research and available studies (NEAP
draft document, UN Common Country Study for BiH), results of workshops, meetings
and round tables organised by REC BiH, the other REReP projects and web-sources
such as European Commission (EC), United Nation Development Program (UNDP),
World Bank (WB), REC, etc. The objective of this material was to clarify the situation
(legislation, institutions, policies, plans and strategies) in BiH in order to EU
approximation process.

Based on this research it could be concluded that BiH is facing serious environmental
problems today. The capacity to deal with this huge challenge is very weak. Many
socio-economic and institutional issues should be highlighted too:

    Virtually no policing of environmental malpractice and no legal resource,
    Weak institutional capacity is further fragmented between Entities and Cantons,
    No civil society participation in policy and environment decision making,
    Overlapping institutions for water, forestry, environment, public health, agriculture
     etc.,
    Lack of monitoring and other equipment,
    Lack of communication within and between Entities, and between stakeholders
     (Government, demining services, NGOs, citizens, land and resources users
     including farmers, tourism, minerals, services, etc.),
    No economic incentives for good behaviour (user fees, taxes, polluter pays
     principle),
    Weak environmental skills and knowledge even amongst senior staff, poor
     management, all exacerbated by understaffing, low budgets, and inadequate
     training,
    Lack of concern for local environments by displaced people and refugees, and
     low environmental awareness throughout the population generally.

There is no question that reintegration into the European family is the only viable
future for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Entry of BiH into the European Union must
continue to be a goal that drives positive environmental change in this country. Apart
from an economic urgency, legal and political issues need to be resolved before BiH
can achieve environmental self-sustainability.
                       Environmental legal development in BiH

Environmental policy in BiH is very poorly developed. Legislative processes have
been very slow because of the significant burden on Parliament to enact a large
volume of new legislation, and have delayed the development of an environmental
regulatory framework. Additional reasons for this delay were also the fact that
environmental legislation was not among priority issues and lack of capacity to draft
environmental laws. Lack of environmental legislation, weakness of institutions
included in environmental protection has been emphasised as the most relevant
problems of environmental sector in BiH today.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a complex state consisting of two entities, the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republic of Srpska (RS) and Brcko District,
as unique unit of local autonomy, under BiH authorities and competence defined by
District Statute. The General Framework Agreement for peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, initialled in Dayton on November 21, 1995 and signed in Paris on
December 14, 1995, specified the principles of state and legal structure of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, officially called “Bosnia and
Herzegovina” since the General Framework Agreement went into force, continued its
legal existence according to international law as the state with internal structure
modified by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Annex 4).

The General Framework Agreement for Peace placed the administration of justice
into the hands of the two entities (Article III Paragraph 3a). Legal frame for efficient
environmental management and its protection was based on constitutional right of
citizens for healthy environment, and also on international principles in this field.
Environmental law in both the Federation and RS is based largely on former
Yugoslav environmental regulations. Environmental protection is fundamentally
regulated by Law on spatial management. This law is mutual and in general covers
all environmental components. During the period since its adoption (1974) the law
has been treating complete problematic of urbanism, spatial management, "human
environment" and civil building. In FBiH currently in use are the framework laws on
Environmental Protection and on Nature Conservation, both closely based on those
adopted in Slovenia and Croatia. In RS the environmental law is based on the law
currently in force in Serbia. It is anticipated that these laws would be in use until
summer 2002, when the adoption of the new set of environmental laws is expected.

The structure of Environmental Protection Law in Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina

The Environmental Protection Law of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is
following this structure:

1.     Basic Provisions
2.     Basic Principles of Environmental Protection:
        Prevention,
        Preserving the Values of Natural Resources and Biological Diversity,
        Operation Replacement,
        Comprehensive Approach,
        Law Respecting,
        Payment for Environmental Pollution and Damages,
        Openness and Accessibility.
3.     Documents on Environmental Protection
4.     Organisation of Work on Managing, Protection and Improvement of
       Environment


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5.     Implementation of the Protection and Advancement of the Environment
6.     Responsibility for Endangering and Damaging the Environment
7.     Financing Environmental Protection and Improvement
8.     Supervision
9.     Penalty Clauses
10.    Transitional and Concluding Clauses


The structure of the Environmental Protection Law in RS

The Environmental Protection Law of RS is following this structure:

1.     Basic Provisions
2.     Protection Measures in Planning and Construction:
        Air Protection,
        Water Protection,
        Land Protection,
        Forest Protection,
        Protection of Flora and Fauna,
        Protection of National Resources,
        Noise Protection,
        Protection from Ionising Radiation,
        Protection against Waste and Hazardous Materials,
3.     Financing of Environmental Protection
4.     Inspection Control
5.     Sanctions
6.     Transitional and Final Provisions

Preparation of these documents was simpler, and saved money and time, but also
caused some consequences because of existence of two different laws in the country
of BiH. The different laws could cause many problems in the implementation of
regulations, especially in international relations.

Many regulative related to natural resources management and environment
management have been adopted, and now, in FBiH and RS there are more than 70
acts valid in this domain, like Law on water management, Law on forest
management, etc. Unfortunately, this legislative is not coordinated in many
segments. Period behind us is characterised by lack of awareness of citizens, state
and local authorities about importance of implementation in environment policy and
legislative. Same situation is with public participation in adopting and realisation of
development plans and programs.

The area of environmental law is of the common interest. Qualitative regulative is
base for achieving the strategic plans, which means adequate reconstruction,
transition and sustainable development of the whole country. Because of that there is
a need for definite linkage between the authorities and legislation of the two entities.
The first step has already been taken in July 1998 when the Memorandum of
Understanding was signed between two entities, with assistance and support of the
international community, regarding the creation of harmonised environmental policy
for the country.

There is still no environmental policy at the state level. European Commission funded
an intensive program, with main goal to prepare drafts of set of laws, for both entities,
which would cover environmental issues in accordance with modern EU legislation.



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The project is finalised and new set of laws on environmental related issues is just
drafted by foreign and local experts. This set of laws includes:

   Environmental Framework Law,
   Law on Water Protection,
   Law on Waste,
   Law on Nature Protection,
   Law on Air Protection,

The next phase should be public discussion, parliamentary discussion and final
adoption of the laws. It is expected that Parliaments of FBiH and RS will adopt this
set of laws until summer 2002.

In all SEE countries, National strategies and Action plans exist, except in BiH, for the
moment. From March 2001 the World Bank (WB) has been supporting the NEAP
development for BiH, which is expected to be finalized by the end of year 2002. The
role of the NEAP is to identify problems related to the environment and to set a list of
the priorities. NEAP is the document of crucial importance for BiH, and it should be
adopted by legal bodies of both entities and Brcko District.


                              Institutional development in BiH

There is no single ministry, which serves as the focal point for environment in BiH.
Different state-level ministries seem to have parts of the same issue, but there is no
key ministry having responsibility for the harmonization effort, and inter-ministerial
coordination is lacking.

Already in the environmental field, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for
negotiating the numerous environmental treaties, which affect BiH. The Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Relations is managing treaty-related environmental
programs. The Ministry of European Integration is managing environmental projects,
which fall under the Stability Pact. Now, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and
Communications has been tasked with formulating environmental laws. All of this
fragmentation presents a recipe for failure.1

There is an attempt to create working group, which would consider environment on
the state level. The idea was raised in September 2001 by Ministry for European
Integration and MoEs. The Working group would be consisted of two representatives
from each entities´ MoEs, one representative from each of four ministries of Council
of Ministers (Ministry for European Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and Ministry of Civil Affairs and
Communication) and one representative from each international organization (OHR,
WB and REC). On the last meeting held on February 5, 2002 the material regarding
the verification of the WG and future action plan, which would be proceeded to the
Council of Ministers, was discussed.

As BiH recently (in October 2001) approached to Global Environment Facility (GEF),
there was a need to create the “body” for coordination and management of GEF
programs and implementation of international environmental agreements in BiH.
Administrative and organizational structures in BiH related to GEF programs, among
the other issues, were discussed on the Round table “Climate Changes –

1
 Stuart Thompson, 2001: “The Need for Functional Integration in Environmental Protection”, OHR
Legal Department.


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Commitments and BiH Potentials”, held on February 4, 2002 in Sarajevo. General
Focal Point (FP) for GEF in BiH is Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.
The next step will be establishment of the National Committee for GEF and
Operational FPs for ozone, water protection, climate changes and biodiversity.
Another Round table “Establishment of Institutional and Organizational Infrastructure
in Bosnia and Herzegovina for Environment and GEF Programmes Management”
took place on March 5, 2002. The representatives of WB, UNDP, EC, USAID, OHR
and BiH ministries were present at this meeting. Among the others, Mr. Jadranko
Prlic, Deputy Minister and Executive Chief Officer for GEF BiH, had exposure on
“Role of the State and Government Institutions in Execution of International
Commitments of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Environment Protection and
International Cooperation in Implementation of Environmental Programmes”.

All these activities are contributing to the establishment of relevant environmental
institutions (like ESC, EPA), that might take role of “state” agencies bound for
implementation of environmental policy on the highest level.

Different organisation system of ministries exists in the FBiH and RS. In both of them
the principal authority for the water sector is assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture,
Water Management and Forestry (MoAWF). The MoAWF is responsible for the water
strategy and policy, the issuing of agreements and permits, setting of standards and
regulations, and the monitoring of the compliance with the laws and regulations
through licensing and inspections. The Ministry for Physical Planning and
Environment in FBiH and Ministry for Urbanism, Construction, Communal Issues and
Ecology in RS have responsibilities in the water and environmental sector for the
activities and measures related to the water and environmental protection.

FBiH is administratively divided into ten cantons. In all ten cantons authorised bodies
are:
- Ministries for civil building, spatial planning and environment, that work on field of
    spatial planning and environment protection in cantonal borders
- Ministries of agriculture, water-management and forestry, that also work on
    administrative issues linked to water-management licensing, that are according to
    Law on waters under cantonal authorities.

Like so many others, this issue is also complicated by fragmented internal
government structure, with available resources stretched and overlapping mandates
between different departments and levels of government. Even senior staff has very
poor grasp of the most elementary principles of environmental management,
conservation, and sustainable development. There is no capacity at all to request
and subsequently assess Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
Without joint work on environmental legislation in BiH, the implementation of
international standards and rules could be seriously undermined. With two different
sets of laws and two means of organising environmental protection, BiH will be in a
very difficult position in terms of implementation.

The Memorandum of Understanding is one of the most far-reaching agreements
concluded to date between two entities. The result of this agreement has been the
creation of a joint Environmental Steering Committee (ESC). The Committee is
comprised of eight members (four from each entity), plus representatives of the
Office of the High Representative (OHR), USAID, EC, WB and other bodies as non-
voting members. Its tasks are: harmonisation of environmental legislation and
standards, environmental monitoring, information systems and plans for emergency
situations, physical planning, and relations with the international donor community.
The Environment Steering Committee demonstrates that there are numerous political


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situations whereby the entities by themselves simply cannot perform those duties
ordinarily accorded to a sovereign state by international law. The shortcomings of the
ESC are strong evidence that even partial convergence is extremely difficult to
accomplish in practice. There is a lack of agreement between entity governments on
the best approaches to correcting environmental problems, not to mention wide
divergences in environmental institutions and practices between the two entities of
BiH. In its present form, the ESC frankly does not offer an effective mechanism to
facilitate mutual recognition and the necessary harmonisation of environmental laws.

On BiH level there is no Agency or some other professional institution dealing with
environmental issues. Some of international donators expressed interest to support
establishing of such body, but no concrete activities have been done.

There is no comprehensive environmental monitoring system in BiH that would
collect all environmental information. Data collection is not coordinated, different
institutions collect information separately. There is no centralised database to collect
monitoring data, nor there are mechanisms of data transfer from the institutions
collecting data to the relevant ministry. Ministries of Environment (MoEs) with their
Directorates and Institutes, like Meteorological Institute, Institute for Statistic, Institute
for Agro-Pedology, Civil Engineering Institute etc. are responsible for environmental
data collection. There are no legal regulations established for environmental
information systems in BiH.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have always been important for raising the
profile of environmental issues. According to the daily newspapers “Oslobodenje”,
dated February 18, 2002, there are about 1500 NGOs in BiH today. REC BiH
estimates that approximately 10% of them are dealing with environmental issues.
There is general standpoint that they are not developed enough, their management
structure is very weak, most of them have no basic means for work. Most of NGOs
work on ad hoc basis, gathering members together only in some symbolic actions
without permanent action and development plan. As a contribution to development
and strengthening of NGOs financial support was provided through local and
cooperative grants (130.000 EUR for the period 1997-2001). There is visible lack of
communication inside NGO sector, as well as lack of communication between NGO
and governmental bodies. In order to over-exceed such situation some of NGOs
started campaign of making forums of NGOs, but this practice has not brought any
visible positive results so far. There is also an effort for establishing and running an
NGO electronic network in BiH. The start-up event in this process was the Workshop
“Role of BiH NGOs in Establishing of Electronic Computer Networks” held in Fojnica
on December 10-11, 2001. in the framework of the REReP Project 2.3 “Promoting
Networking and Cooperation of Environmental NGOs”.


                                 International Conventions

Years of war and solving urgent problems of citizens after the war have taken BiH far
from general development of environmental legislation in the world. The pace of
environmental treaty-making has picked up dramatically over the past two or three
decades. Global environment and resource issues have clear effect on economic
development, trade, and human health issues at the forefront of international policy.
There are at least 21 major multilateral environment and water protection treaties
(and many more protocols) to which Bosnia and Herzegovina is not yet a signatory.
Even regarding participation in important regional initiatives, such as the Danube
Basin Agreement and the Mediterranean Action Plan, BiH is left to the mere status as
an observer to proceedings.


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Part of the dilemma can be ascribed to what had largely been a dysfunctional
Council of Ministers, as well as an astoundingly complex treaty ratification
procedure.

Environmental treaties might not be considered so essential vis-à-vis a country
struggling with many more pressing internal matters, were it not for the tangible
benefits they bring. It is true that conventions place significant demands on their
members’ human and financial resources, but in addition to facilitating a fuller
participation in the family of nations, environmental treaties carry with them
substantial financial support and technical assistance to help them implement and
monitor international procedures or standards.

As a country successor, BiH became party to some international conventions
adopted by former Yugoslavia (Montreal Convention on Substances that deplete the
Ozone Layer, Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution), but it has to
accept certain UN conventions to which the former Yugoslavia was not a party.

Ministry of the foreign affairs has published BiH Official Gazette, No. 25/93; 15/95,
and Official Gazette No. 26/98, the review of international multilateral contracts,
which refer to the environmental areas. BiH is party in these contracts according to
accepted and performed succession.

The Council of Ministers BiH brought in the Decision on Ratification of the
Framework Convention of UN on Climate Changes and that Decision has been
published in BiH Official Gazette No.19/2000 on 20.07.2000. The Convention
became valid on 06.12.2000.

The BiH Presidency in July 2000 passed the Decision on Ratification of the
Conventions on control of inter-border traffic of Hazardous Waste and its Disposal,
known as the Basel Convention. The Decision on Ratification of this convention has
been published in Official Gazette No. 31/00 and became valid on December 18,
2000.

In July 2001 Federal Ministry for Physical Planning started an initiative for ratification
of the Convention for Protection of the Danube River Basin.

It is also planed that the following conventions should be ratified in the near future:

-   Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context
    (25 Feb 1991),
-   Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (17 Mar 1992),
-   Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and
    International Lakes (17 Mar 1992),
-   Conventions on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to
    Environmental Justice (Aarhus Convention).

The absence of effective structures at the state level means that BiH is not itself in a
position to accede to any international treaty. There is an urgent need for assistance
in the systematic preparation to ratify the conventions mentioned above, among
others. Concrete step in ratification of these and all future conventions and contracts
is adoption of Law on Process of Signing and Implementation of International Legal
Instruments. Parliament of BiH adopted this Law in October 2000. The Law was
published in Official Gazette BiH No. 29/00 and came into force on December 8,
2000.


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                      Current environmental conditions and priorities


Air

The emission of pollutants into atmosphere in BiH, despite a lower degree of
industrialisation and urbanisation is very high. In 1998, a study by Independent
Bureau for Humanitarian Issues revealed that BiH contributed 32% of all of the air
pollution in former Yugoslavia.

The causes of air pollution in BiH are: thermal power plants, industrial sources,
quality of the consumed fuels (low heating value, wide range of sulphur content,
ashes in high degree), poor maintenance of power and industrial installations,
inappropriate technologies, land use, previous environmental damage, lack of
knowledge about the environmental management and cost-effective use of energy.

The current process of privatisation has been implemented without taking in
consideration the environmental issue. The following questions should be precisely
defined:

-     Who is the owner of the previously incurred damage,
-     Will the new owner buy the damage along with the factory, or will the ownership
      of that damage remain with the state,
-     Will the owners of the non-operational companies, which do not meet the
      environmental regulations, have to invest huge amounts in technology in order to
      meet these regulations.

In the draft NEAP document it is underlined that the Agenda 21 should be adopted by
the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament. The next step should be preparing and
adopting the framework of a national action plan by the Council of Ministers. On the
basis of this framework action plan, the two Entities' governments would complete
implementation programmes for the practice of sustainable development in both
Entities.

International cooperation has to be an integral part of the establishment of BiH. BiH
has to accept certain UN conventions to which the former Yugoslavia was not a
party. Each of these conventions has its implementation programmes, and very often
sub-programmes for the states of Central and Eastern Europe (in the process of
transition). It is necessary to accept the rules of the EU’s “New approach,” as well as
those contained in the EU “White paper,” especially in Chapter 8 (Environment).

As it was mentioned before, the new set of laws is suppose to be adopted by
summer 2002. More attention should be given to the bylaws, instead of to the law
itself. How the law will be implemented will depend on how strict emission standards
will be. Environmental management without emission control, as well as very strict
emission standards, would not have any positive effect. Only realistic standards
(ambient and emission) can give good results.



Priority measures:

-     Preparing draft of bylaws on Law on air quality,
-     Prepare a study for application of Law on air quality,


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-   Preparing programs for gas emission reducing, which follow Geneva Convention
    on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollutants and Framework Convention on
    Climate Change,
-   Participation to international programs,
-   Establishing State/Entity agencies for the environment,
-   Establish air monitoring system,
-   Implementation of Sustainable development Indicators in BiH practice,
-   Education for rational use of resources,
-   Organise seminars on licence for preparation of Environmental Impact
    Assessments, air quality management and implementation of Environmental
    Management System.




                                                                               9
Water

Considering the water cycle management, in terms of pollution of surface and
subsurface waters, BiH is generally accepted to have been the most polluted
Republic of the six republics of the former Yugoslavia. Throughout the country, many
rivers are of poor quality due to lack of wastewater and sewerage treatment plants. In
urban areas around 70% of households were linked to a sewerage system and these
were often inefficient. According to the experts` statement in second draft of the
NEAP, no tertiary treatment plants exist anywhere. The general recognition of this
problem led to the production, just before the war, of a major twenty-year plan for
improvement of the water supply and of wastewater disposal facilities of the whole
country.

Due to the war in the area of BiH, water infrastructure is heavily affected. Even
before the war situation in water supply and sewage system was unregulated.
Although it is estimated that water supply sector has been rebuilt to the 90 % of the
pre-war level, it is very far from the International standards. Up to now, little money is
invested in water treatment plants. Drinking water quality is very suspicious. In urban
areas, and even in bigger cities, sewage systems are not completed. Pollution of
water sources is very distinctive because of the urbanisation, industrialisation and
also agriculture production.

Priority measures

Basic goals that should be achieved are:

-   To provide enough quantity of quality water for the population and other
    purposes,
-   To protect water resources and preserve quality of surface and ground water,
-   Protection of hazardous water influence,
-   Rational use of water.

In order to see these priorities implemented, the following activities should be
performed:

-   Modernise water sector in accordance to the EU regulations (“Integrated river
    basin”) and create the basic documentation for water management,
-   Harmonise the legal regulations and the structure within individual leadership
    regimes of entities. Harmonise the water legislative with the standards in EU,
-   Strengthening the involvement on the level of BiH government in water sector,
-   Develop and introduce new legislation that will localise the management of water
    resources,
-   Improve the circumstances for investments and mobilise the private capital,
-   Organise suitable monitoring systems on main watercourses.




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Soil

Over the past decades land in BiH was exposed to various negative impacts, which
caused its infection, pollution (contamination), degradation, and sometimes even
complete destruction. The soil acidity increase has been noticed as well. The
acidification has negative impact on the status of vegetation. This manifestation is
particularly frequent in the vicinity of thermo-electric power plants (Tuzla, Kakanj,
Ugljevik, Gacko), and areas with developed industry, especially chemical industry,
with high emission of SO2, CO2, NOx and other gases that induce “acid rains” and
acidification of soil. In addition to this, in the vicinity of big industrial and mine centres
and thermo-electric power plants, the heavy metals content in soil is likely to increase
and exceed critical level. The soils in BiH are subject to a permanent water erosion of
high intensity. Because of surface exploitation of various resources (coal, iron,
aluminium, clay), so called “technogene deserts” were formed.

In order to achieve better protection and management of land the series of measures
and activities should be taken. These are the following:

   Develop a single strategy (policy) of soil protection at the state level (BiH),
   Provide general and separate legislation on soil in one place (at the entity level,
    and certain authority/responsibility at the state level), with clearly defined
    authority/responsibility at both vertical and horizontal levels,
   Provide common accompanying instruments and standards for the protection of
    agricultural land,
   Establish the land marketing mechanisms, which requires: good information
    system, reliable legislation and legal system, skilled and certified experts in land
    transactions, unified real property taxes,
   Land policy should be united and enforced by a single institution (Agency or
    Institute) at the state level, with branch offices that would deal with specific issues
    in that specific region,
   Develop a single Law on Land (protection, use and cultivation), based on single
    Land Protection Policy,
   Make an inventory of balanced status of land in BiH, from the point and for the
    needs of strategic planning,
   Identify the level of contamination of the land used in the production of healthy
    food (soil contamination control capacity building),
   Identify the status of the current and potential erosion in BiH, as well as propose
    protection measures,
   Categorize (evaluate) soil for the purpose of its sustainable management and use
    in agriculture and forestry,
   Establish continuous land monitoring in the framework of European integrations,
   Establish single Soil Information System (SIS),
   Raise the awareness of the population about the significance of land for
    sustainable development and the future of the generations to come.




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Biodiversity


From the view of biological and ecological diversity, BiH represents one of the most
interesting regions in Europe. Biodiversity represents tremendous national heritage
and treasure. The level of habitat diversity or geodiversity and landscape diversity is
extremely high. Unfortunately, not enough attention has been paid to the natural,
historical and cultural heritage. Only 3% of the country has been currently protected.
Problems and causes:

-   There is a very intensive degradation of all elements of natural, cultural and
    historical heritage,
-   There is no clear institutional framework for sustainable management of natural,
    cultural and historical heritage at all levels of organisation,
-   Lack of experts and scientific institutions necessary for establishment of
    databases for development of environmental and economic models for natural,
    cultural and historical heritage management,
-   Inefficient implementation of existing legislative, and problems in development of
    monitoring system,
-   Inadequate funding policy in the field of natural, cultural and historical heritage
    protection, and lack of programs for development of market oriented income
    generation in this field,
-   Insufficient cooperation among intergovernmental bodies, institutions and certain
    sectors, as well as a very weak cooperation with NGO sector,
-   Lack of information and a very weak awareness of public and governmental
    sector about importance of natural, cultural and historical heritage,
-   Very small areas have an adequate protection status,
-   Lack of data on sensibility of certain areas, categorisation of level of
    endangerment of nature monuments and their current state,
-   Insufficient connection with international trends,
-   Lack of participation in international agreements regulating sustainable
    biodiversity management, such as Convention on Conservation of European
    Wildlife & Natural Habitats (Bern Convention); Habitat directive of European
    Commission (EC Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC); Convention on Biodiversity,
    CITES Convention, Ramsar Convention, etc.,

-   Lack of standards and strategies on sustainable use of natural resources,

-   Non participation in international projects, such as: Natura 2000 - Coherent
    European Ecological Network of special conservation areas; European Ecological
    Network (EECONET).

Priorities

-   To prepare scientific foundation for ratification of international agreements and
    documents dealing with sustainable management and protection of biodiversity
    and geodiversity,

-   To develop program and standards for sustainable use of biological resources,

-   To develop sustainable environmental education for building of democracy and
    better cooperation and understanding among entities and various ethnical groups
    in the country,

-   To develop information system for sustainable management and monitoring,




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-   To carry out strategies and National Action Plan (NAP) for protection and
    sustainable management with biodiversity, geodiversity, and diversity of
    landscapes in the country,

-   To develop strategy and national program for protection from genetically modified
    organisms (GMO's), and invasive species,

-   Development of programs for protection of 15-20% territory of the country in
    accordance with IUCN.




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Waste

Considering the waste management, BiH falls behind the developed countries, as
well as the countries in transition. Even during the pre-war period, waste was not
treated in adequate manner. The war destructions additionally made this situation
worse.

The problems originate, among other things, from the outgoing attitude of society
towards the waste and its management, from the lack of vertical and horizontal
managerial and professional coordination and organisation, from the lack of law
regulations and economic measures concerning geological and hydrological
importance of the BiH area, as well as from the migration caused by the war
destruction. Landfills are not adequately located and/or technically equipped, and
often filled up. Processing of the waste is inadequately organized (the waste is not
being selected, there is no recycling of usable parts, after all, there is no technology
for waste recycling). Industrial waste is in the most cases disposed together with the
communal and the whole area of BiH has no legal industrial waste dumpsites. Export
of some dangerous refuse (such as old paints, varnishes, etc.), which is in
compliance with the acts of Basel Convention, is among the rare solutions for the
industry, but has not completely come into force yet. Some sorts of communal waste,
which are very successfully gathered and recycled in EU, are not gathered in an
organized way in BiH, for the reason that there are no data bases on producing,
circulation, treatment and disposal of usable waste in this country (for instance:
aluminium cans, polyethylene packing, packing styrofoam, old clothes, household
appliances, electronic devices, old automobiles, etc.). The packing waste will be
radically decreased in near future as per EU regulation concerning packing (CD
94/62 EC, 1994). There is no gathering and classifying of dangerous waste, which is
disposed together with the communal waste (batteries and car batteries, pesticide
residues, old paints and organic diluents, expired medicines, etc.). Furthermore,
system for managing thus collected waste to its final destruction, i.e. recycling is not
defined. Clinical or medical waste is a huge problem. Its volume is estimated 850t
from humanitarian aid, and 14t of hospital waste, which is daily generated in
Federation of BiH, according to the World Health Organization data. Situation in RS
is likewise: app. 550t from humanitarian aid and 7.5t of hospital waste per day. After
the war in BiH, in 1996, the first incinerator was installed in Mostar. 400t of expired
medicines were to be incinerated there. However, it is not functioning due to some
political reasons. In BiH there is no waste market, no registered collectors and
adequate facility for dangerous waste treatment.

The unique system of cross-border waste circulation still does not exist, even though
the Basel convention on cross-border dangerous waste circulation control became
valid on December 18, 2000.

There is no law regulation in BiH, which is in compliance with the EU law system, and
which would deal with this area, nor any adequate acts which would deal with the
waste management and production supervision, stocking, collecting, transport and
treatment of industrial and special waste. A step further in improving the general
conditions is the BiH Solid Waste Management Strategy, which provides basic
directions and aims in the field of waste and possible solutions for waste
managements.

The aims of reaching EU standards in terms of integral waste management require
relatively high investments and cannot be implemented in BiH immediately.
European Commission and World Bank (WB) started an initiative for waste


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management improvement, national environmental monitoring system development
and development of a comprehensive environmental regulatory framework. The
project proposals were discussed on the recent round table held on February 8,
2002.

Priorities

-   Introducing and adopting the waste management strategy,
-   Adoption of Law on waste management,
-   Rehabilitation of certain number of the existing dumpsites,
-   Removing “illegal” dumpsites,
-   Organizing the educational programmes at all levels,
-   Establishing waste market,
-   Re-establishment of integral informational system,
-   Re-establishment of efficient waste management system,
-   Forming the agency for dangerous waste management,
-   Application of economical measures,
-   Introducing the environmental acceptable technologies,
-   Construction of sanitary depots,
-   Introducing of ecological incinerating plant.




                                                                            15
Forests

In BiH forests cover more than half the land surface (55.6%). Around 20% of them
are privately owned. The war has led to significant deterioration in forest quality,
however the nature and distribution of damage seems to vary considerably in
different areas, and proper inventories have yet to be compiled. The major causes of
damage include uncontrolled cutting, lack of management and direct damage from
military action. Uncontrolled fires have affected large areas of woodland. It is
estimated that between 15-20% of the forest area remains mined and inaccessible;
shell and bullet fragments embedded in trees in some areas have lowered the grade
of timber and have increased the cost of harvesting it.

Problems in forestry management are caused by old legal and administrative
systems. Minimal enforcement of forestry laws and regulations is a serious threat to
any attempts at sustainable forestry management.

Strategic priorities

-   Adoption of the law regarding forest on the entities and state level;
-   Creating the dynamical plan for demining of forests;
-   Precise determinations of species, especially of the most endanger species and
    proposal for their protection;
-   Protection of forest from all kinds of degradation;
-   Creating a long-term plan for sustainable management of forests;
-   Creating long-term plan for reforestation in order to protect land from erosion and
    other;
-   Collecting the all data regarding the level of air, water and soil pollution and its
    impact on forests;
-   Improve works of all kinds of inspections;
-   Start with monitoring in forests;
-   Make proposal for most important scientific works in forests especially for
    protection from pests, fires and meteorological accidents;
-   Stating activities for making the LEAP in all administrative units.


Conclusion

To allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to integrate into international process, there is an
urgent need for assistance in developing strong and independent environmental
institutions and drafting of harmonised environmental regulatory network covering the
entire state. There is also a need for comprehensive and harmonized framework of
environmental laws. Institutional building and law adoption, implementation and
enforcement are thus the highest national priorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina today.

Considering all these facts mentioned above, it would be very helpful to create an
adequate guide (manual), which would underline the main EU directives, regulations,
requirements etc. for the approximation to EU environment legislation. The aim of the
manual would be to help Bosnia-Herzegovina on its way to a future membership of
the European Environmental Agency (EEA) by describing the international reporting
obligations that have to be met partly or fully in the approximation process. This
manual will present the “first principals” only, not a detailed examination of all points
of interpretation of individual pieces of legislation or the general principles of EU law.
The manual could also be used as a material, which could be considered and
incorporated in final draft of NEAP BiH document, and also as a tool for
implementation of the new EC, WB and USAID projects.


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                                   REFERENCES


Approximation of European Union Environmental Legislation, REC, Budapest, 1996

Economic Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina, The World Bank, Resident Mission in
B&H, 1998

Environmental Steering Committee for BiH, Ministry for Physical Planning and
Environment of FBiH and Ministry for Urbanism, Construction, Communal Issues and
Ecology in RS, 2001: Report on the Seminar “BiH National Environmental Action
Plan”, Second Workshop, Oct. 08–10, 2001, Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina

LEAPs, Report on the Seminar, REC BiH, June 21-23, Konjic, BiH

Local Agenda 21, Basic Guide, (Croat -translation), CEMR CCRE, NGO “Eureka”,
Njivice, Croatia, ISBN 953-97526-1-2, 1999

Prof. Tarik Kupusovic, Sofia Initiative, Update of Key Indicators for Economic
Instruments in Central and Eastern Europe, B&H Country Report, 2000

Public Health Institute of B&H, “Health and Social Consequences of The War in B&H”
Sarajevo, 1997.

REC. 1999: Seminar on Environmental Impact Assessment, Hutovo Blato, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Nov.26-27, 1999, Conference Proceedings.

REC. 1999: Seminar on Framework Environmental Law Drafting in Countries in
Transition, Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nov.29-30, 1998, Conference
Proceedings.

REC and Japan Special Fund. 1999: “Support for the Development of Environmental
Law and Policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for SEE, Proposal for the
Programme in the Framework of the Stability Pact for the SEE, EC - DG
ENVIRONMENT, P:04.10.05.22, 2000

Resulovic, Technogeneus Desertes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Water Management
Journal, “Vodoprivreda” , Sarajevo 1998

Seremet Nesad, 2000: Environment, Sarajevo, UNDP.

Strategies and Policies for Air Pollution Abatement, UNECE, Geneva 1999
Sustainable Business, Economic Development and environmentally                   sound
technologies, UNEP, 1998

Strategic Review for the Year 2000, National Report B&H, MAP Office for B&H, 2000
Stuart Thompson, 2001: “The Need for Functional Integration in Environmental
Protection”, OHR Legal Department.

Sustainable Development for Local Authorities, EEA, Copenhagen 1997


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United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator for Development Operations.
2001: Common Country Study for BiH: “The Transition to Development – Challenges
and Priorities for UN Development Assistance to Bosnia-Herzegovina”.




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