permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 3/14/2011 6:38 PM, Amir Redzic wrote:
> Dear All
>
> river Neretva is a pearl in the Balkans, endangered by capitalism, waste, and 
> similar outdated human constructs. Here is a good blog:
>
> http://neretva-trout.blogspot.com/p/intro-uvod.html
>
> kind regards
> Amir

Restoring Bosnia’s Neretva River

WWF - Restoring Bosnia’s Neretva River

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/project/projects/index.cfm?uProjectID=BA0001&source=ge

Geographical location:
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Bosnia and Herzogowina
Summary

Rising from the base of the Zelengora Mountains, the Neretva River flows 
through Bosnia and Herzegovina and spills out into the Adriatic Sea on 
the Croatian coast. But urban and industrial development, agriculture 
and hydropower plants are having a major impact on the river and its 
biodiversity.

WWF is working in Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure nature conservation 
and sustainable development of the Neretva river basin area, and that 
river management is in line with European Union environmental standards.
Background

Bosnia and Herzegovina is situated in Southeastern Europe, in the 
central part of the Balkan peninsula, has a land area of 51,000 km2 and 
an estimated population of 3.5 million people, and is one of Europe’s 
great reservoirs of natural resources. The land is mainly mountainous 
with an average altitude of 500m. Of the total land area, 5% are 
lowlands, 24% hills, 42% mountains and 29% karst area. Forest and forest 
lands cover about 50% of the territory, while the total agricultural 
land covers 2.5 million ha (or 0.7 ha per capita).

The Neretva river is 225 km long and extends through the 2 entities of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation and the Serbian Republic of Bosnia 
(Republika Srpska) for a total surface of 10,100 km2, while the lower 
basin is located in Croatia covering a surface of 280 km2. The main 
cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are Mostar, Konjic and Capljina with an 
estimated population of 156,000 people, while in the Croatian part the 
main urban areas are Metkovic, Ploce and Opuzen (approximately 28,000 
people).
Objectives

1. Set the ground for mapping biodiversity values and hotspots in the 
Neretva basin.

2. Initiate a multi-stakeholder process for integrated river management.

3. Strengthen civil society to ensure proper public participation in 
river management and support a democratic development.
Solution

The overall goal of the project is to ensure the conservation and 
sustainable development of the Neretva river basin, serving as a base 
for long-term prosperity and development in the region.

The immediate goal of the project is to facilitate the development of an 
integrated river basin management model for the Neretva river basin, 
linking water management and biodiversity conservation.