B O S N I A A N D H E R Z E G O V I N A
Considering the social problems, more than one million refugees from BiH are located in over 100 countries all over the world. With more than 200,000 citizens murdered and 12,000 permanently disabled, the country's entire social structure has been significantly transformed. Some 700,000 displaced persons within BiH still have no adequate accommodations while returning to their original homes is uncertain. More than 40 percent of the country's housing units are either damaged or destroyed, and more than 400 settlements are no longer on the geographic map. The employment rate is only 19 percent, with over 200,000 unemployed. And compared to 1991, only 13.6 percent of all industrial capacity continues to be operational.
Over five million landmines have been registered in the country.
Actual priorities among reconstruction project proposals are: the energy network, water supply system, agriculture, cattle breeding, traffic, education, rehabilitation of war victims, housing reconstruction, overall economy, industry, and mine removal. Environmental protection, however, is not adequately treated within the overall reconstruction process despite the enormous destruction of the ecological system which has occurred.
Job shortages have forced large plants, mainly polluters (30 registered polluting plants), to restart operations in order to create new jobs. At the same time, there have been no adequate investments made for the reduction or elimination of emissions.
The waste disposal situation has been worsening throughout the country except in Mostar where a new city dump was recently constructed thanks to the Administration of the EU.
Adequate laws and regulations have not yet been adapted for environmental protection so no effective mechanisms can be used to regulate problems.
A second priority is the provision of financial resources for: rehabilitation of communal, industrial, hazardous and radioactive waste dumps; control and treatment of wastewaters; equipping laboratories for environmental quality control; creating a monitoring system and a system for providing information on the state of the environment; and the declaration and protection of State National Parks.
It is also hoped that cooperation will be established with the authorized environmental ministry of the Srpska Republic through the creation of a Commission for the Environment at the national BiH level.
Given this picture, we believe that progress in solving environmental problems is expected, but only with the support of the international community. We are deeply committed to fully implementing these activities in order to approach EU standards. However, it is extremely difficult to follow current Phare Multi-Country Environment Programs that support the process for approaching EU standards unless we accomplish at least the minimum preconditions required for monitoring and managing the environment at the state level.
In response, on September 10, 1997, OHR Senior Deputy High Representative Gerd Wagner sent a letter to Ambassador Donato Chiarini, Head of the EU's Office in BiH, commenting on the above request.
Wagner suggested the establishment of an Environmental Steering Committee "to coordinate the activities of a broader institutional effort within related ministries of the Federation which affect the environment." More specifically, this effort would entail the review of existing environmental requirements and the development of new environmental policies, programs and activities within a legislative framework. The Steering Committee could also prioritize project proposals and recommend funding from appropriate international institutions, including the EU and USAID.
Wagner believed that experiences gained through similar programs in CEE would be "extremely valuable" to BiH, and given the EU's expertise in these programs, it should be an active part of the Steering Committee, with the OHR acting as chair in coordination with the Entities
One week later, Ambassador Wagner and 11 other international personnel were killed in a helicopter accident over BiH.
On November 4, Ambassador Chiarini sent a letter to the OHR supporting the establishment of the Steering Committee "without delay." He added that EU funds had already been allocated to the program and contracts would soon be in place to commence work with the Federation Environment Ministry. He further noted other EU initiatives in the works including a project to develop a comprehensive solid waste disposal master plan for BiH and a water institutional strengthening program in the Federation.
On November 12, a meeting was held between OHR and EU officials and representatives from the environmental ministries of both Entities, including Republika Srpska's Assistant Minister of Urbanism, Housing-Communal Activities, Civil Construction and Ecology, Slobodan Muratovic, and the Federation's Ahdin Orahovac and Hrvoje Bevanda, Assistant Minister for Physical Planning and Environment. The first time that both sides discussed environmental issues since before the war, the meeting was meant to begin the process of coordination, the formation of the Steering Committee and an invitation for RS officials to join the REC's Local Advisory Board in Bosnia. Muratovic said that the Republika was in need of assistance and hoped that political issues would not stall cooperation.
In a follow-up letter to Mr. Muratovic, the OHR announced that an Environmental Steering Committee meeting would take place, possibly as soon as mid-December.
