Ideally, the European Union, with its well-developed environmental principles promoting preservation and biodiversity, should join with the Bosnian grassroots to control the mercenary urges of the country’s politicians. But instead, all too often, international diplomats behave simply as if they were corporate representatives.
The demands of environmentalists
In response to the lack of legal protection against environment threats, activists often refer to the fact that in the European Union, land protection covers over 25% of EU territory, with a goal to reach 30% by the year 2030. In contrast, protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina covers a mere 3.5% of the land, including caves, ancient forests and bird sanctuaries.
Spatial plans at the municipal, canton and entity levels promise greater protection, but without encouraging enforcement. Activists working to defend Majevica, Ozren and the Trstionica-Boriva watershed, that lies between Vareš and Kakanj, call for these relatively undeveloped regions to be safeguarded as nature reserves.
“There should be ‘no-go’ zones to protect our bio-diversity. Today the companies are going wherever they want. At present, the encroachment of industrial activity has increased at a much faster tempo than has land protection”, says environmental activist Majda Ibraković.
When I asked activist Svjetlana Nedimović what she would call upon the international community to do, she said that “there should be the same standards and laws as those in the European Union”.
“The international community should make decisions that are environmentally sustainable, and they should support laws that preserve the environment. That is our message”.
The possible responses of the international community
Speaking about the international representatives’ behavior, Snežana Jagodić-Vujić comments: “That is as if they are saying: ‘Our air will be clean, because we will be driving electric cars, and in your country, we will dig what we need and we will pollute the land, water and air for you’”.
So far, cooperation between international industrialists and politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina has clearly been more robust than any cooperation between European Union officials and local activists.
One main avenue of transmission of minerals is connected with Germany’s auto industry, which is struggling to compete with that of China. The Swiss company Arcore strives to extract lithium from Majevica to supply to a battery-producing company in Guben, Germany, for use by Mercedes Benz.
Simultaneously, Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik’s brother autocrat in Hungary, Viktor Orbán, hopes to invest a half-billion euros in the Republika Srpska this year, with an eye towards extracting enough lithium to make Hungary a major producer of electric car batteries.
We also recall Milorad Dodik’s agile move in the run-up to the US Treasury Department’s generous lifting all sanctions against him and his cronies. In May 2025, the RS president offered to facilitate the establishment of a critical mineral supply change with the US in partnership with Hungary.
None of these plans resonate with the farmers, activists and ordinary people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In this vein, Kurt Bassuener and Valery Perry of the Democratization Policy Council addressed my question about what international officials could do for environmental protection in BiH.
“The EU does not understand that they need to have popular support in these countries if they want to pursue their interests. But they have always taken the shortcut of going to the governments”, says Bassuener. “Now, if the governments were truly representative, you could almost excuse that shortcut, but they have every reason to know that they are not representative and accountable. So, they are basically aligning with the governments against the people”.
“If the European Union wants to cultivate the trust of the ordinary citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina – continues Bassuener – it will have to learn to deal with them directly, not through their oligarchs. It will also have to shift away from its purely transactional approach”.
The perception of activists is that the enduring, historical colonial status of the country has simply evolved into neo-colonialism. People do not forget that they were ruled successively by the Ottomans and then by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, the old imperial power bases have been replaced by corporate boardrooms. Foreign companies gravitate to peripheral locations where rule of law is weak. They find additional advantage in Bosnia and Herzegovina because of wartime and post-war depopulation.
Although local officials enthusiastically promote international mining investment as the solution to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s postwar economic troubles, ordinary people do not feel the improvement. The percentage of the profit from Bosnia’s extracted raw materials that is returned to the community is so paltry that it stings the morale of people who are, meanwhile, seeing their childhood swimming holes and picnic grounds ruined. For example, in September 2025, when Adriatic Metals sold its holdings (including the mine at Rupice) to Dundee Precious Metals for 1.25 billion dollars, the municipality of Vareš received no direct financial compensation from the windfall.
“The international community acts as if they own us, that we are not to be consulted and that we are irrelevant”, comments Majevica activist Andrijana Pekić. Given the actions of EU representatives, it appears certain that the environmental activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot depend on the good will of foreign officials to ward off environmental destruction.
A pattern of events
There is a pattern of events that is worth noting in observing the industrial assault on the environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the grassroots campaign of resistance.
First, damage is permanent.
In my discussions with Kakanj-based activist Hajrija Čobo, she described the poisoning of the city’s drinking water, the despoilment of her childhood recreational sites and the vanishing of wildlife habitat in the vicinity of Adriatic Metals’ mining operation. “These places have already suffered irreparable damage. They will not be repaired even in a thousand years”, lamented Hajrija.
Second, victories are temporary.
Activists defending the environment and tourist attractions around Kupres scored a victory when they prevented the German mining company MFE from moving ahead with a project to exploit magnesium deposits in the highlands around the town. But in spite of robust local activism, MFE persists. The company recently declared that it is going to engage experts to conduct research that it vows will be unbiased. As if the company that is eager to go through with mineral exploitation is capable of producing any kind of impartial assessment.
Similarly, in 2022 activists throughout neighboring Serbia compelled their government to cancel the concession that would allow Rio Tinto to prospect for lithium in the Jadar River valley. But there has been back-and-forth on the project since then, with the idea revived in 2024. Presently, widespread anti-corruption protests have stalled forward movement of that project in Jadar, but there is no promise to prevent it completely.
In both of these cases, and many more, activists understand that they must remain vigilant.
Third, environmental resistance continues.
Ever since the end of the Bosnian war in 1995, activists have persistently conducted grassroots campaigns for refugee return, for justice, for memorialization and for equal rights. Today, environmental resistance is on the front line of the struggle for justice, and there is no sign that the campaign will subside. The participants, with all levels of education and status, understand that they are fighting not only for their livelihoods and their health, but also for their identity and their culture.
On one hand, the industrialists and the local profiteers see nature as a source of minerals and wealth to be extracted. On the other hand, ordinary citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.who are in touch with their land see it as the source of life. The two sides speak languages that do not translate.
The economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a shambles, no thanks to thirty years of rule by separatists and corrupt operators. It is time for people from below, with their broader vision of justice, to participate in putting back together what the profiteers have taken apart. They will have to continue to fight for this opportunity.
