Environment

Republika Srpska’s parliament calls for moratorium on small hydropower plants

Republika-Srpska-declaration-small-hydropower-plants

Photo: Pixabay/Larisa Koshkina

Published

February 19, 2021

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

February 19, 2021

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

The parliament of Republika Srpska has adopted a declaration on river protection, which calls on the Bosnian Serb entity’s government to impose a moratorium on the construction of small hydropower plants.

Although not entirely satisfied with the final text of the declaration, the Center for the Environment (CZZS), an environmental organization, has welcomed its adoption as a first step towards the protection of rivers in Republika Srpska.

The adoption of the declaration marks a great success for activists gathered in the Coalition for the Protection of Rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have defended rivers and highlighted the harmful impacts of small hydropower plants over the past years, the CZZS said.

A similar declaration has been adopted in FBiH, but legislative changes needed for its implementation are yet to be passed

A similar declaration, along with a decision to ban the construction of small hydropower plants, was adopted by the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) in mid-2020. However, according to the CZZS, the necessary legislative changes are still pending because federal and cantonal regulations have not yet been harmonized.

People’s discontent is beginning to yield results

FBiH was the first in the region to move in this direction. Following in its footsteps, Montenegro’s new government has said it will ban the construction of small hydropower plants and review existing concessions, and it has recently scrapped several such contracts. Albania has also announced that the hydropower plants planned on the Vjosa river will not be built.

These decisions demonstrate that the discontent of people all over the region is beginning to yield results, but there is a lot more to be done until the rivers are safe.

Republika Srpska must now change renewable energy legislation

After the adoption of the declaration by the Republika Srpska parliament, according to the CZZS, the ball is in the court of the entity’s government, which needs to change renewable energy legislation.

Viktor Bijelić: BiH should abandon green energy incentives and turn to supporting citizens’ energy projects

Viktor Bijelić, vice president of the CZZS, says that the new law should be based on abandoning incentives for any new renewable energy projects and turning to incentivizing citizens’ energy projects, where citizens, who pay renewable energy fees, could also be investors, which is already the practice in the neighboring Croatia.

Dragana Skenderija, coordinator of the Coalition for the Protection of Rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, hopes that the Republika Srpska government will take more vigorous steps to protect rivers and that this process will proceed faster in both entities, resulting in a legal framework at the state level that will protect rivers and citizens from harmful projects.

The declarations adopted by the Republika Srpska parliament and the FBiH parliament’s lower house are based on the conclusions and recommendations from the Declaration on the Protection of Rivers of the Western Balkans, adopted in November 2019 at an international conference organized by the CZZS.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

Vucic EU designate lithium project Jadar Serbia strategic activists appeal

Serbia’s Vučić claims EU to designate lithium project Jadar as strategic – activists vow to appeal

26 March 2025 - Project Jadar will be labeled strategic in the EU, according to President Vučić. Activists say they would dispute such a status as well as the already designated mining proposals.

EU selects first group of strategic projects for raw materials

EU selects first group of strategic projects for raw materials

25 March 2025 - The European Commission adopted a list of strategic projects for raw materials. They are eligible for administrative support and financing.

US court rules Greenpeace pay over USD 660 million oil pipeline operator

US court rules Greenpeace must pay over USD 660 million to oil pipeline operator

21 March 2025 - A North Dakota state court found Greenpeace liable for more than USD 660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, which controls the Dakota Access Pipeline

serbia kragujevac citroen eC3 stellantis

Another electric vehicle to be produced in Serbia – Citroën e-C3

21 March 2025 - In July last year, automotive giant Stellantis launched trial production of the electric Fiat Grande Panda in Kragujevac