B O S N I A A N D H E R Z E G O V I N A
by Paul Csagoly
Protection of the environment is not specified as a responsibility of BiH in its constitution. As a result, it became the basic responsibility of the two Entities - for the Federation, the Ministry of Urban Planning and Environment, and for the Republika Srpska, the Ministry for Urbanism, Construction, Communal Issues and Ecology.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR), a United Nations-led, independent body established to spearhead the civilian implementation of the Dayton Accords (which provide for the rule of law in BiH), is also involved in environmental activities. The OHR is coordinating efforts of the international community in BiH and helping the Entities develop environmental law. One outcome was the OHR assisting the Federation Ministry's drafting of a Law on Environmental Protection in 1997 (see CEE Law Report).
Cooperation between the two Entities in all sectors remains minimal, as does cooperation between the two sides of the Federation itself. The formation of Federation authorities, for example, has been very difficult, revealing the depth of mistrust between its Muslim and Croat partners. The city of Mostar poses an especially key problem for the Federation. While Mostar's east side is now almost exclusively mixed Croatian and Muslim, the west side is exclusively Croatian. In fact, Croatians have declared their side the unofficial capital of "Herczeg-Bosnia," a territory which they consider to be their "Croat Republik" - with its own laws and institutions - although it is completely unrecognized externally. Muslims are afraid to cross Mostar's internal border, the Neretva River, for fear of attack. International officials have been attacked and bombings in Mostar have been frequent. On a positive note, the world famous bridge connecting Mostar's two sides, bombed and buried in the Neretva River during the war, is being slowly rebuilt with international assistance, including free help from Hungarian engineers.
Car travel within BiH also poses problems, unless one is equipped with a foreign or Corps Diplomatique license plate. BiH's three ethnic groups each have their own plates with unique coats of arms which pose as sure targets for locals keen on venting their anger on "intruders." REC head office staff, on route by car to the Travnik conference, witnessed just such a heated incident live at a Serbian/Croatian border manned by UN police.
"It should not be allowed that ecological policy, natural resource management, and environmental protection be parceled out in BiH to belong to the entities, cantons, or communities, exclusively," wrote Abadzic in the magazine's first issue just released this year. "It should be done for the entire state, as elsewhere in the world."
Officials from the Federation government were there, including Ahdin Orahovac, Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment. Although invited, no officials from Republika Srpska came. In fact, they did not even respond to the invitation. But NGOs did, from both entities, including representatives from Federation NGOs Fondeko and MEDEX, some 15 other Federation NGOs, and two NGO representatives from Republika Srpska.
A great feat of cooperation, that they could sit at the same conference table. If only they could have sat next to each other more informally, at lunch or dinner. But that didn't happen. Not yet anyway. But there's hope.
"The war was bad," said Miroslav Basovic, priest, engineer and President of ORION, an environmental NGO from the Republika Srpska. I'm not a child of this country. I'm a child of this planet. This is the same for other members of ORION. What we have now is banana republics. This is foolish. We need more communication between NGOs in all areas."
