The fight to save Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rivers, which are under terrible attack by investors of small hydroelectric power plants, is probably one of the fights that united people in the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Coalition for the Protection of Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which gathers around 30 organizations, supports the residents of local communities across the country who have been fighting for more than a decade to save our wild, drinkable rivers. The struggle has brought results when it comes to the legal ban on the future construction of small hydropower plants – the guardians of the rivers came just one step away from the big goal – the final ban on the construction of new small hydropower plants in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).
So far, we have all learned that 120 small hydropower plants have been built in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which around 70 are in FBiH, and that they produce negligible amounts of electricity (only 2.54% in 2021), while having a devastating impact on river ecosystems.
The locals of Fojnica and the brave women of Kruscica near Vitez were guarded the banks of Zeljeznica and Kruscica, preventing the entry of heavy machinery into the beds of their rivers. The resistance continued in other locations such as the Bunski canals near Mostar, Jablanica, East Sarajevo, the Neretvice valley near Konjic, Donji Vakuf, Foca, Travnik, Kakanj, etc. Citizens of the river that means life are defending it on the ground with their bodies, in courts and in the media.
Photos and videos of dry riverbeds and irretrievably destroyed former natural pearls shook us all because rivers are life and their salvation concerns all of us – all civil society organizations, academics, peasants, women, men, youth and children!
We, the undersigned organizations, join the appeal of the members of the Coalition for the Protection of the Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and call on the delegates of the House of Peoples of the FBiH to adopt the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electricity in the FBiH at the session scheduled for July 7, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. in the same form as the House of Representatives did on June 6 this year.
FREEDOM TO RIVERS! #VodajeZakon #stopmhe
