Environmental Lobbying and Advocacy CSO Network Miljö Lobbying och Advocacy CSO Network Insatserna kommer att bidra till att förbättra miljöstyrningen i Bosnien och Hercegovina genom att skapa förutsättningar för miljömässiga CSOs och att allmänheten effektivt deltar i beslutsprocesserna i samband med miljökonsekvens bedömningar (EIA) och strategiska miljöbedömningar (SEA), men också att påverka nyckelreformerna för vidare införlivande och genomförande av EU: s miljölagstiftning. Regional Environment Centre Country Office for BiH (REC CO BiH) has applied to Sida/Embassy for funding of 14,1 million SEK to carry out the project "Environmental Lobbing and Advocacy CSO Network”.  

In recent years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has transposed majority of directives prescribing procedures for assessing impacts and requirements for evaluating impact. However, implementation of these requirements by relevant public institutions is at best pro forma, resulting in poor quality assessments, significant impacts on natural resources, non-transparent decision-making process usually devoid of civil society and public participation, and lack of ownership of those projects by the wider public and especially local communities. New environmental legislations/policies/programs/ planes are often being introduced without public participation and transparency. General public`s and CSOs’ contribution to the environmental policy and decision-making process in BiH is rather limited and civil dialogue is weak. All these results in overuse of natural resources, loss of biodiversity and climate change which threaten the environmental conditions in the Country.

The project aims at strengthening the environmental governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina by creating the conditions for Environmental CSOs and general public to effectively participate in the decision-making processes related to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)/ Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) procedures. To that, the intervention aims to influence the key reforms for further transposition and implementation of the EU Environmental Acquis. Civil society participation in decision-making processes is critical to strengthening participatory democracies, increasing ownership over decisions that affect a society’s future and assisting the achievement of sustainable development.

The intervention’s total budget is 15 000 000 SEK, however the total requested support amounts to 14 million SEK. The other 1 million SEK will be used by the Embassy/Sida for mid-term review and the final evaluation of the contribution. The intervention aims at strengthening and specializing environmental civil society in BIH , enabling them to effectively participate in the policy and decision-making processes and thus contribute to the key reforms and further transposition and implementation of the EU Environmental Acquis in the country.  In addition, the proposed intervention will support implementation of the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. The project is closely related to environment ( Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)/ Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA)), waste management and sustainable development. As such, it contributes to several sustainable development goals, primarily focusing on Goal 3, 11, 13, 15 and 16.