Nataša Mazalica, Master of Hydrobiology and long-time environmental activist, was previously employed at the Institute for Public Health of the Republic of Srpska. She worked as a coordinator for accreditation and quality control and managed two laboratories. As a member of the Center for the Environment and an activist, she has always been attracted to nature protection.
When asked what is the easiest way to preserve nature, he states that it is necessary to observe and respect it, but also to teach younger generations to do the same. He points out that when we are more aware of our environment and the fact that we are a small part of it, our attitude towards nature will always prevail in favor of conservation.
She joined the non-governmental sector in order to contribute to greater change, and to the protection of nature and the environment. She is currently engaged in the Association of Citizens Association Green Ways based in Mrkonjić Grad, which has been implementing activities since 2007. This association of citizens started with a larger scope of work and greater visibility at the moment when it was necessary to protect the Lisina mountain. This mountain should have been protected according to the spatial plan of the Republic of Srpska until 2025. At that moment, there were agreements with the local community and the Republic Institute for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Republika Srpska in order to protect this place. At the beginning of the conversation, Mazalica states that local development is possible in other areas and not only through the connection with the exploitation of natural assets and resources. In the following, she explains that Lisina mountain in Mrkonjić Grad is a well-known mushroom growing area where her colleague Rade Gašić, who is an expert in this area, identified 1,600 types of mushrooms in that area. He explains that at that time the local community was not interested in the protection of natural resources.
“Protection meant that you would take away people’s space or that they would not be able to walk through the forest or cut down a tree. There was an excellent response from citizens until the moment when the opinion prevailed among the local community about the negative impact that protection can have on the use of the forest, which sounded like a ban to the locals, although protection does not lead to such rigorous confiscation. After that, they completely gave up on activism, that is, the Association Green Ways did not receive the support of the citizens so that the goal could be achieved,” said Mazalica.
Mazalica explains that during that transitional period, the president of the Citizens’ Association Association Green Ways together with two colleagues found a new location in the village of Pecka, which has about 70 inhabitants. There they found an old school that was built in 1930. Association Green Ways on the site of the old school, which was completely renovated and remodeled into a Peck Visitor Center. There is also Ubovića hill, which is a kilometer and a half away from the Peck Center and which is the second in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of the number of climbing routes, where climbing festivals have been taking place for the last ten years. Near it is the protected source of Sana, where one of the companies had the idea to build a mini hydroelectric power plant.
“It is important to emphasize that a hydroelectric power plant is never mini. They have such devastation for the living world and the environment that the term is just ‘brainwashing’ citizens. At that moment in 2013, they got a concession and wanted to start building a mini hydropower plant at the very source of Sana, but they were outvoted. After that, the activists joined forces and protests took place. However, the only thing that succeeded at that moment was to move the mini-hydroelectric power station 900 meters downstream, and at the same time, the protection initiative was underway. In October 2021, that area was declared the first protected area in the Mrkonjić Grad municipality,” Mazalica points out.
Association Green Ways actively cooperates with the Municipality of Mrkonjić Grad, and many international volunteers took part in their activities with the presence of about 10,000 visitors.
This contributed to numerous benefits and activities in the village itself. Local residents are starting to restore their homes and want to develop local businesses.
For the Eco HUB project, which lasted four years, Mazalica believes that networking is a very important segment. Associations have the opportunity, through a good connection, to fundamentally strengthen each other and provide support at the end of the project.
“For example, all the people who know me can contact me and ask for an expert analysis of the surface water report because they know that I am an expert in that field. Likewise, I have the opportunity to address lawyers from any other Eko HUB and to use their resources from their capacities,” says Mazalica.
The media gave a lot of support to citizens’ associations and their initiatives, especially during the coverage related to the coal mine in Medna in a small village with no more than 100 inhabitants.
“That story was heard outside the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was forced into the public space where their negative impact on nature and people was pointed out. Therefore, I think it is very important for people to join forces, which requires a lot of resources,” Mazalica points out.
He believes that citizens’ associations have much more power in municipalities than local self-government units and in terms of rural development.
“Our citizens’ association has excellent cooperation with the Municipality of Mrkonjić Grad. Unfortunately, municipalities do not have a strategic vision of how they want rural places to look, and they have a lack of funds for this item. On the other hand, smaller municipalities lack the will as well as the human capacity for active work in rural areas. What often happens is that at some entity level, municipalities are given too many tasks from the top, such as solving the waste problem, and creating a regional landfill. These are huge projects that are absolutely impossible for one small municipality to implement. This solves the problem of entity institutions and that is why the strategic goals established in all strategies are never fulfilled because they are not well thought out nor are there enough financial resources for them,” Mazalic concludes.
Written by: Hazim Okanović
This story was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Local Works” program of the United States Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The content of the story is solely the responsibility of the author and the “Network for Building Peace”. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
