Map / Bosnia and Herzegovina

Welcome! Here you will find information about Bosnia and Hertegovina on:

  • Protected Areas management
  • The Training and capacity Needs Assessment reports
  • Capacity building initiatives/projects

Protected Areas management

The territory of Protected Areas in Bosnia and Hertegovina is very low and significantly below the European average – aprox. 2%.

Under the State administration there are two almost completely self-governing entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and  (RS) also the institutions dealing with Protected Areas are different:

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina assigned responsibility to  the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (for management and designation of PAs, to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry (for identification, setting boundaries and providing feasibility studies) and to the Cantonal authorities (for practical management of smaller PAs).

On the other hand, Republika Srpska appointed the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology (for management and designation of PAs, identification, setting boundaries), the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resources (in the case of PAs on forested land) and the RS Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage (for feasibility studies and research work).

The Training and capacity Needs Assessment

The Training and capacity needs assessment report (2014) The ”Assessment of capacity development needs of Protected Area staff in Eastern Europe. Bosnia and Hertegovina” is based on a survey that has been filled in by the staff employed in the national Protected Area management system of Bosnia and Hertegovina in 2013.

The results of the surveys provide detailed information on staffing profiles, training provided in the past three years and structured assessments of competence, based on which recommendations have been developed.

The preparation and publication of this report was supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz: BfN) as a component of the project ‘Capacity Building Plans for Efficient Protected Area Management in Eastern Europe’ (Number: Z1.3-544 11-63/12 (FKZ: 3512 82 1800)).

The report is available for download at the end of the article.

Capacity building initiatives/projects

Even if there is a real need for training both at an institutional and specific management level, there are few opportunities. Some initiatives were recorded within the last few years, due to international funding.

Providers are generally NGOs or companies when hired by donors to provide trainings within specific projects. Topics of previous courses are: PA management, business planning for the PA sustainability, ecotourism development, PAs and local communities, etc.

For initiatives in the field of capacity building for Protected Areas that should be included here, please write to us at office@propark.ro (state within the subject of the message: Capacity Building Section – Bosnia and Hertegovina).