Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country rich with untapped natural resources, yet as a modern era of technological progress encroaches, it brings up questions about the threats it could pose to the country's environment.

During the country's 1992-1995 war period, environmental problems were put aside in order to deal with more pressing concerns.

That is why after the war, both governmental and nonprofit organizations „rose from the ashes? in order to shine a light on the „unseen? problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One of them was, of course, the environment.

I'd like to point out that the organizations' names are in Bosnian, and that they cannot be correctly translated into English without losing their true meaning.

Furthermore, the informations about the organizations may be just the „tip of the iceberg? to their true value and purpose. I hope that I will do well in reflecting their missions.

To start off, I'd introduce the most popular (and most crucial) governmental institution that regulates laws concerning the quality of air, water and soil, promotes policies and creates strategies for the country's environment.

It's the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

It's important to mention as it is the driving governmental force behind environmental laws and policies.

Here is their website (On Bosnian, but there are some great pictures of the environment and cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina):

http://www.fmoit.gov.ba/

The first NGO I'd like to talk about is one that is a more local, but not any less popular.

It's called Unski smaragdi, which would refer to the „emerald? color of the local river Una.

In the future I'll often talk about the river Una, its aquatic life and the National parks that were built in its proximity, so this is a good opportunity for an introduction.

Founded in 1985, its main goal is to develop a sense for protecting the invaluable national treasure that is the river Una.

It often works alongside other NGO organizations and ministries of education in order to promote environmental awareness among children and youth, organizes various projects and competitions to promote environmental knowledge, and is one of the major organizations that worked towards protecting the river Una and eventually forming the National Park Una in 2008.

One of the many reasons I chose to apply for the Ambassador role was the environmental knowledge I've gathered throughout my primary and highschool education, and one of the ways I'd learned the environmental values was by participating in their competitions.

The last organization I'd like to talk about is called Ekotim.

It's an organization founded in 2002 by students who wanted to raise awareness on the environmental problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to show the younger population that only by actively contributing to the environment they could achieve their true mission.

It's a nonprofit organization that is very active in the last couple of years mainly consisting of volunteers.

Their website:

http://ekotim.net/en/

Apart from this, there is an „Environmental Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina? that is strictly a governmental institution that I'd also like to mention.

They've got a nice website with a bit of english translation.

http://www.fzofbih.org.ba/en_v2/index.php

I hope I've done good in representing these organizations, and in the following months, I'll try to represent the environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the pictures I'll take traveling around the region.

Here's a little sneak peek of "that" river Una: