prijava
SARAJEVO, September 3 (FENA) - Sokolac became the first municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina to pledge not to issue any concessions, permits or recommendations for the construction of a dam or hydroelectric power plant on its territory without consulting its inhabitants first, said the Coalition to Protect BiH Rivers.
As part of the initiative launched by this coalition, Mayor Milovan Bjelica yesterday signed the Declaration "Municipalities without Dams".
"The development of tourism for the municipality of Sokolac is of much greater importance in relation to the construction of small hydropower plants (SHPPs). Our municipality recently adopted a Development Strategy which defines that in the area of the local communities of Kaljina and Knežina it is not possible to build small hydropower plants because these areas are abundant with beautiful rivers that we must protect," said Bjelica.
Opposition to the construction of SHPPs on the rivers of this municipality began in 2019, when the coalition of 17 local associations organized a protest and a petition against the announcement of the construction of these power plants on the rivers Kaljina and Bioštica.
"At that time, we initiated legal steps to annul the decision of the RS Government on issuing concessions for SHPPs, which we succeeded. The signing of the initiative is the result of a long-term effort of our civic organizations," points out Mira Čajić, a representative of the Coalition whose members welcomed the signing of the Declaration.
The "Municipalities without Dams" declaration is part of the activities jointly implemented by Arnika (Czech Republic), the Coalition for the Protection of BiH Rivers of BiH and the Environment Protection Center, with funding from the European Union and the Czech Republic's Transition Promotion Program. It is based on the "Declaration on the Protection of the Rivers of the Western Balkans", adopted last year at an international conference in Sarajevo.
Zuzana Vachunova from the Czech NGO Arnika, which supports the struggle of local communities for the protection of rivers in BiH, called on other municipalities to join their citizens and stand together in defense of rivers and the right to live in a healthier environment in BiH and Europe as a whole.
(FENA) S. R.
