International mining companies, with the collaboration of corrupt local politicians, ravage the hills and rivers of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Local and regional construction companies add to the despoilment of the rivers by building mini-hydroelectric dams by the dozens. Contrary to worldwide trends, new coal mines are established in many parts of the country, compounding the pollution of Bosnia’s air, soil, and water. This series of six articles will examine these problems in depth, with a focus on the local and nationwide response to environmental destruction.
Part I, an introduction, provides an overview of these ills, and mentions problems common to every community in Bosnia-Herzegovina that is mounting resistance to the assault on the environment. It brings up the European Union’s role in conducting a manner of “green colonialism,” and discusses the pervasive domestic corruption that facilitates international intervention. Part I also introduces the widespread and growing local resistance to all forms of environmental destruction, based on people’s love for the natural riches of the country and on their special concern for their home turf.
The series continues with Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.
Local communities in resistance, scattered throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, are coalescing into a movement. Attention from international media plays a part in encouraging Bosnian environmental activists and furthering their cause. We hope that the present series of articles will add to the international audience’s understanding of the destructive effects of Europe’s exploitation of Bosnia in furtherance of its agenda of “green transition.” Indeed, for Bosnia there is nothing “green” about this new form of colonialism.
Part I: An Introduction
I was walking in the woods not far from the town of Šipovo, in central Bosnia. My guide was Peđa, a native of that town. Tall, slender, bespectacled, with a hermit’s beard, Peđa led me along a quietly bubbling brook. In the pure, late October air, the trembling leaves were turning from green to gold. We came to a place where there was a steep slope with piles of boulders lining the lower part of it. From under that 30-meter row of mossy boulders, a full-fledged river was pouring out of the ground. This was one of the sources of the Pliva River. Locals in that region say that the waters leading to the Pliva are the most drinkable in Europe.
Several times during my visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the fall of 2024, activists like Peđa spent a day or more showing me around the hills, forests, and rivers that they are fighting to protect. The time that these people took to share with me their beloved Mehorić Woods, the hills of Majevica, and the sublime headwaters of the Pliva, was an expression of their love of zavičaj, of the homeland of their hearts.
There are more than 200 rivers in Bosnia-Herzegovina; each one speaks its own language to the people who grew up walking alongside it, swimming or fishing in it, experiencing their first loves by it. To a foreigner, the wealth of rivers can be dazzling, and it is a rare privilege to see them through the eyes of the local people. To those who grew up with the rivers, it is a simple pleasure to drink directly from their waters, and it is an outrage to witness callous profiteers scheming to destroy them.
There are five rivers that come together near Šipovo. Residents of the area will speak of otters, grey herons, and grouse in the nearby woods. They will tell you that their particular river is the “most beautiful place in the world.” You will meet older people who, flouting the average health status of people their age, are still vital and active thanks to taking a daily “turn in the kayak.”
Bosnia is graced with an abundant share of such natural beauty, but it is under grave threat from profiteers both within and abroad. Lovers of the mountains, rivers, and valleys have been compelled to mobilize against all sorts of destructive exploitation. International mining corporations have set their sights on Bosnia’s mineral riches. Domestic companies are bent on damming up the rivers for a small profit. Unrestrained coal extraction fills out the picture of reckless practices.
International mining corporations and the network of exploitation
International corporations are making a raid on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s mineral resources; this assault is taking place in the context of the world economy’s shaky attempt at a “green transition.” While the advocates of that transition aspire to curb climate change by leaving fossil fuels behind, target countries such as Bosnia experience the corporate assault as “green colonialism.”[1] In this scenario, companies based in stronger economies are bent on extracting valuable minerals—such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt—from poorer and less regulated countries, without concern for the devastating effects of mining on the environment.
There is an entire vertical network of collaborators in service of this exploitation. At the top of this chain are international mining companies based in Australia, the UK, Switzerland, and other rich countries. These companies—often with the help of ambassadors and European Union officials—find domestic leaders who are eager to facilitate the plunder of their own lands. In partitioned Bosnia-Herzegovina, officials in both “entities” (the Serb-controlled Republika Srpska and the Croat- and Bosniak-controlled Federation) work with ministers, mayors, and other officials to smooth the way to exploration and extraction. Filling out the network are numerous legislative bodies and an assortment of governmental agencies. Municipalities, cantons, and entities each have regulatory agencies governing the use of land, water, construction, and mining. For example, the water control agencies at cantonal and entity levels regulate the use of water and, in theory, safeguard its quality. In some places, the agencies have truly worked to protect the local population from the poisoning that results from mining. This safeguarding of the water tends to be the exception; the protective laws that exist are more ignored than honored.
Each canton and entity has a prostorni plan, a multi-year spatial plan that envisions the use of land, resources, and infrastructure. It is common for these spatial plans to call for the establishment of a nature reserve (park prirode) in areas such as Ozren and Majevica where idyllic settings, lovely views, and traditional recreational areas ought to be protected. But with economic temptation and pressure from the profiteers, local authorities, more often than not, violate this directive.
It is important to note that party politics reign. In the Republika Srpska, most municipalities are dominated by President Milorad Dodik’s entrenched party, the SNSD. The mayor of a place like Mrkonjić Grad or Ugljevik will be in close contact with the entity’s Minister of Energy and Mining, Petar Đokić, who collaborates closely with Dodik in the promotion of mineral exploitation. Powerful parties in the Federation are also quite ready to make deals leading to mining or the construction of mini-dams. At the canton and entity levels there is a history of not-so-covert collaboration with domestic and regional criminal elements in the exploitation of coal deposits, as will be illustrated in this series of articles. There are similar cozy arrangements between local officials and companies that have built many destructive—and all but useless—mini-dams.
Where there is environmental resistance, there is pushback from authorities and their operatives who file SLAPP suits against activists and, at times, set up shady web sites to slander the activists. Powerful officials masquerade as experts, and regularly dismiss entire local communities as “ignorant” about their own environment.
Power is weakest at the state level, with effective decisions taking place at the entity and canton level. This works in favor of the destructive exploitation of resources. One serious complication is the long-term conflict about the disposal of state-owned property, which includes forests, much agricultural land, the rivers, and military property. When entity leaders found it convenient, they have flouted regulations by selling off state property or making “temporary” arrangements with mining companies to use these properties.
The European Union: Main sponsor of mineral exploitation
The European Union has set its sights on Bosnia-Herzegovina. The EU’s campaign to reduce its purchase of critical raw materials from China and other distant sources leads it to focus on its near periphery, especially those Western Balkan countries waiting to gain accession to the EU. Bosnia’s condition as the most corrupt and unregulated state in that group makes it all the easier for foreign and domestic companies to bend the rules.
The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM), finalized in the spring of 2024, defined goals and time limits for the acquisition of specific strategic metals. The document predicts significant increases in demand for these minerals in the next ten to thirty years, and targets their sources within Europe. While there is an implied concern about sustainability, EU directives have not focused on environmental protection. In an article titled “Critical raw materials in the EU’s ‘demo-critical’ version,” analyst Majda Ibraković points out that the EU’s approach fails to focus on reducing consumption, insists on speeding up extraction, and overrides domestic communities’ right to information and consent. This approach is wholeheartedly adopted by the international mining companies themselves, which make deals with corrupt and opportunistic domestic operators.
The implication of the language of the CRM Act and the European Union’s behavior is that the environment of the EU’s non-member periphery is not as important as that of the EU itself. Indeed, there are sources of strategic metals such as lithium within the EU, including in Portugal and Germany. But community resistance to the dangerous mining of these substances is more effective in these societies where rule of law is relatively strong. Given this, communities in resistance within Bosnia conclude that powerful states are eager to experiment at their expense.
All the way down the chain of extractivism, the dominant ethic is one of dishonesty in the interest of profit, and arrogance at the expense of human dignity and environmental preservation. While the prospect of long-term income bolsters the stock values of companies such as Adriatic Metals and Lykos, the income delivered to local communities is miserly. Greenwashing and extravagant fictions about the safety of mining techniques are the rule. Indeed, to the international companies and most EU officials, the well-being of ordinary Bosnians is, as the locals say, zadnja rupa na svirali—the last hole in the flute.
The threat of mini-hydroelectric dams
The influx of international mining corporations is not the only dire threat to the environment in Bosnia-Herzegovina. There is an entire catalogue of dangerous operations; it is common for domestic companies to carve rock quarries into the sides of hills in plain view of the highways and, sometimes, leave them untended and unstable, a threat hanging over the population below them. Other “green” forms of energy production can also endanger communities; a badly placed wind farm or solar installation can pose a significant threat to local populations.
A particularly damaging practice is the construction of “mini-dams”—producing up to ten megawatts of electricity—on dozens of rivers around the country. Local officials have commonly granted concessions for mini-hydroelectric dams without consulting the local community, and without regard for their destructive effects on wildlife, biodiversity, and tourism in the neighborhood. It was only through years of resistance that activists were able to block the scandalous construction of several dams on tributaries to the magnificent Neretva River.
Local, regional, and international profiteers build dams that disrupt the natural flow of a river. They will even install mini-dams upstream from waterfalls or very near a river’s source. In spite of growing resistance, domestic and regional construction companies have managed to construct over a hundred of these destructive installations in many parts of the country. In this way, the rivers of Bosnia are not only threatened by pollution from mining, but also from construction of dams.
Obstacles to collaboration
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s lovely mountains and rivers need to be defended, not vandalized by a succession of “developers.” Every environmental activist will tell you that the amount of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s territory that is protected from industrial exploitation is somewhere around three percent—a miserly amount in comparison with the European Union, where one source estimates the protection of land to be around 26 percent.
With the close of the 1992–1995 war, the Dayton peace agreement created built-in obstacles to cooperation between different ethnic communities. The partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina into two entities enhanced the power of the wartime leaders and their political heirs, who use their power to perpetuate ethnic separation. Ethnic tension, constantly exacerbated by political manipulation, keeps people apart and makes it that much more difficult for them to collaborate and recognize their true enemies.
Analyzing the possibilities for the growth of an environmental movement in Bosnia, social psychologist Srđan Puhalo compares Bosnia with neighboring Serbia, commenting that “Bosnia-Herzegovina is organizationally much more complex that Serbia. Given this, it is more difficult to organize a unified protest over mutual goals. And we have a permanent division on an ethnic basis, so that solidarity among Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks is very small…Our society is torn apart and divided, not because of the people, but because of the political elites…who actively work on this.”
Another obstacle to mobilization is the exodus of large numbers of people from the towns and cities. Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs alike are leaving the country to live in places where rule of law is not a fantasy, where corruption and nepotism are not commonplace, and where Bosnian immigrants hope that their children will be able to thrive. It is not only the young people and blue-collar workers who are leaving. Educated people and professionals are part of the exodus as well, which contributed to a 22 percent decline in population between 1990 and 2017. Some key locations of mineral resources are thus depopulated and, as one activist said to me, “The companies go where there is the least resistance.”
Environmental struggles: Rivers and mountains unite activists
In the face of a relentless industrial assault on the environment, natural leaders have arisen in local communities throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. On Mt. Ozren and Mt. Majevica people such as Zoran Poljašević and Andrijana Pekić are working hard to lead a movement in defense of the
fields and orchards that provide their livelihood. Zoran and Andrijana are but two of the dozens of capable people in leadership roles throughout the country.
The seeds of an environmental movement have been planted in the last couple of decades, among other things, in the form of visitor centers that host tourists and environmental activists alike. In the municipalities of Mrkonjić Grad, Lopare on Majevica, and Petrovo on Ozren, such centers have been created in lovely rural settings. In many cases the proprietors of these visitor centers, by virtue of their dependence on nature’s beauty, have become supportive of multi-ethnic environmental activism. Visitor centers are also host to biologists who are, in a sense, on the front line of conservation. In order to make an argument for the preservation of an eco-system—for example, to advocate for the establishment of a nature reserve, it is necessary to identify the plants and animals in a given habitat—especially those species that are endangered. This need gives biologists an important role in the struggle for environmental defense.
The practices of resistance have a common repertoire around the world. Activists in Bosnia occupy bridges; they block construction machines; they employ communications networks to mobilize. In addition to these local tactics, activists use media exposure to the best advantage. Finally, they work with lawyers to fight slander and repressive lawsuits, and they launch legal actions of their own.
With the growth of environmental activism in recent years, cooperation has grown between people who were once quite literally at war. For example, in the fight to protect Ozren from the Australian corporation Lykos’s move to mine nickel and cobalt on Mt. Ozren, we see Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs all working together to prevent the environmental destruction that would hurt them all.
Rivers pay no attention to the geographically senseless entity boundaries that separate ethnic communities from each other. Pollution that is caused in the Republika Srpska will harm farmers in the Federation. The unifying nature of geography and of the potential harm to the environment thus translates into a force to bring together politically separated communities. In the case of the threat of lithium mining on Mt. Majevica, the poisoning of the air, water, and soil would radiate out in every direction, reaching Brčko, Bijeljina, Ugljevik, Zvornik, and Tuzla. So we have seen activists from all these places—and some political leaders—mobilize together in defense of the environment.
The activists have a vision. For starters, they wish to create a state where corruption is reined in. A recent report by Transparency International identifies Bosnia-Herzegovina, together with Belarus, as the most corrupt state in Europe. Establishing control over endemic corruption would help Bosnia to become the functional state that people long for. In that scenario, instead of industrial-scale vandalism, reckless endangerment via “natural” disasters, and permanent poisoning of the landscape, the nature reserves that spatial plans call for would be created. A premium would be placed on tourism.
The establishment of control over corruption presupposes the end to strankokratija (rule by the parties), where political parties vie with each other for power—not for the promotion of differing political programs, but simply for political domination and the advantages that go with it. Included in the vision of the activists is the replacement of this dynamic with one that fosters democratic participation from the bottom up. This change would make it possible for communities to participate in decisions that determine the health of their environment.
Furthermore, there are environmental activists who promote the long-term vision of uniting their movement with those in nearby countries—especially Serbia, where mining has taken a dreadful toll in some places. In that country, meanwhile, resistance against the prospect of Rio Tinto mining for lithium has been highly mobilized over the last few years. More recently, a powerful movement against corruption has inspired people throughout the region. There has been no definitive victory against Rio Tinto yet, but over the last few years Serbian activists have shown themselves to be leading a true, widespread movement. Serbia provides an example to the activists of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Personal interests and bonds also play a role in the movement. There are times when pre-war friendships are rekindled in spite of the dreadful history that, at times, placed neighbors, school chums, and even relatives on opposite sides of the front line. Environmental activists spring up from different quarters; hunters and fishers want to protect habitats; women’s organizations get involved as well.
Many activists were born too soon before the 1990s war to be dragged into it as combatants; others were born afterwards and have none of the terrible wartime memories. There is, of course, transmitted trauma and manufactured ethno-nationalism, but there is a cohort of younger people who are less affected by these things. Then too, there are older activists who remember how one’s ethnicity used to be such a minor thing as to be not worth thinking about. Many people who fought each other in the 1990s now recognize that they must join with their erstwhile enemies to fight a new fight. Congregations of churches and mosques were, in some instances, fervent advocates for ethno-nationalist supremacy; now there are priests and imams who support each other’s struggle in the common fight.
There are cracks forming in the walls between ethnicities; activists and ordinary people have been meeting and working together without regard for the religion of their ancestors. The stories that follow will depict that work in detail.
[1] Thanks to Svjetlana Nedimović, Sarajevo writer and activist.
Peter Lippman is the author of Surviving the Peace: The Struggle for Postwar Recovery in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Vanderbilt University Press, 2019). He is a lifelong human rights activist and native of Seattle, Washington. He has spent many years since the early 1980s visiting and living in the former Yugoslavia, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina.