Development of the Environmental Strategy and Action Plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina

ESAP 2030+ has been implemented through a participatory approach enabling a wide involvement of stakeholders in BiH, including 97 government institutions, 25 academia representatives, 37 private companies, 40 public companies, 13 civil society organizations, 16 associations as well as 27 municipalities, contributing directly or indirectly within 111 working group meetings and 22 policy group meetings, and ensuring:

• building on existing and past strategic environmental documents, strengthening the current environmental governance in BiH
• support BiH’s EU acquis approximation by aligning the national environmental strategy with the EU environmental acquis, thus supporting the commitments related to the EU accession
• preparation of a roadmap for future environmental-sector measures and investments, and mechanisms for their implementation beyond 2030.

Despite the progress made during the last decade in BiH, the ESAP 2030+ strengthened environmental legislative provisions by ensuring the enforcement of environmental policies in BiH. SEI supported the BiH, entities (FBiH and RS) and BD-level of authorities to successfully develop comprehensive strategic documents, consisting of:

• the BiH Environmental Strategy and Action Plan, which is yet under consultation/adoption process before adoption by the Council of Ministers.
• environmental strategies and action plans for BiH level, entities (FBiH and RS) and BD-level authorities, which the respective bodies have adopted.

The BiH ESAP 2030+ has served as a critical tool for relevant authorities to reach environmental sustainability and improved citizen health and well-being for current and future generations across the country. During its implementation, the BiH ESAP 2030+ elaborated seven strategic thematic areas including their objectives, goals and targets, and a vast number of measures and activities, by involving 659 working group members, which were ultimately aligned to the sub-themes of the EU environmental acquis.

Strategic objectives

Besides the development of BiH ESAP 2030+ as the main goal, the project contributed to the following strategic objectives:

• engagement with the general public to increase overall awareness of the importance of environmental issues in BiH by organizing 143 events and involving a total number of 815 participants
• assessment of the current state of the environment in BiH
• support the definition of environmental policy in BiH
• strengthen the capacities of the environmental authorities in BiH
• strengthen the capacities in the CSO sector to engage with environmental issues/mainstream environment as a cross-cutting issue
• enable the mobilization of funding for the environmental sector.

The BiH ESAP 2030+ has potential to facilitate the monitoring and reporting process of the set environmental goals and targets and provided support in tracking progress in the country’s efforts towards EU membership.

The BiH ESAP 2030+ adoption is being supported by the new BiH Sustainable Transition (BiH SuTra) programme, which will be fully operational once the BiH ESAP 2030+ is adopted at the Council of Ministers of BiH. BiH SuTra aims to improve BiH’s country-wide approach and national and local capacities to implement efficiently and effectively environmental and sustainable transition policies (the implementation of the BiH Environmental Strategy and Action Plan). More information about the BiH SuTra can be found here.