MDG-F Environment and Climate Change Programme
“Mainstreaming environmental governance: Linking local and national action in
BiH”
Stakeholder involvement in the State of Environment
reporting process for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Amina Omicevic
UNEP in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Basic information






Participating agencies: UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, FAO, UNV
Programme budget: 5,500,000 USD
Duration: three years (+ 6 months no cost extension)
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Number of Beneficiaries: 2300
JP design and Implementation plan focused on:
• Support at both the local and national level simultaneously;
• Effective national level coordination and prioritization mechanism
for the environment sector;
• Local environmental service delivery.
Programme outcomes
1. Improved local level environmental planning;
2. Enhanced management of environmental resources and
delivery of environmental services;
3. Increased national environmental awareness and action,
localizing and achieving the MDGs.
→ role of UNEP: To provide technical cross-programme
coordination for environmental management issues at the
national level.
Output 3.3: Increased public access to environmental
information
Indicator: State of the Environment Report
Baseline: 0 (no comprehensive state level SoER, no monitoring
system, no national level regulatory framework, public
information, participation and education also lacking)
Target: 1
The purpose of the activity was to improve public access to
environmental information through a state of environment
reporting process.
Purpose and importance of SoER
• BiH SoER responds to a governmental demand
• important step towards establishing an environmental
information & monitoring system for BiH
• Main objectives: to provide an integrated assessment of the
state of the environment, identify environmental trends and
impacts that have been taking place since the time of war,
and formulate policy options for decision-makers that will
take into consideration trans-boundary processes and
differences between administrative entities
• Main outputs: addressing and overcoming barriers to
improved environmental decision-making and access to
relevant information at the state and entity levels in Bosnia
and Herzegovina
Original issue addressed by the activity
• The initial challenge: government structure of the country,
large number of environmental officials over different
administration levels, difficult access to many of them and a
common practice of not involving all stakeholders into state
processes
• Operating principles: setting a comprehensive, consistent and
efficient consultation and information sharing system with
relevant stakeholders, applying foreign experience to local
conditions and ensuring public participation throughout the
process.
Strategy chosen to address the issue
Preparatory phase:
I.
II.
→
Consultation among UN partners + with the Government
about stakeholder involvement
Deep analyses of documentation of the legal and
institutional background for environmental governance at
entity and state level : Resulted in a Desk review in 4
languages, all env. institutions and relevant legislation listed,
peer reviewed and available online
GET THE BIG PICTURE, MAKE IT CLEAR, DECIDE ON ACTIONS
Involvement phase:
III. Letters to over 50 institutions related to the environment to
nominate an official representative in the SoE reporting
process
IV. First National Stakeholder Workshop (Oct. 2010) gathered
officially nominated experts to discuss main pillars of the
process: the methodology, indicators, dynamics of work and
contents (areas to be covered)
V. A lively e-discussion followed immediately after the
meetings: all comments taken into consideration for SoER
→ PARTICIPATORY AND INCLUSIVE DECISION-MAKING
Implementation phase A:
VI. Questionnaire/data&indicators survey for national and entity
ministries, agencies and other institutions (i.e. academia, GIS
companies) about availability, quality and range of data each
of them collects, analyses and/or distributes
VII. Data Gap Analysis for the Environmental Information System:
survey and the resulting report on the future EIS
VIII. The Database of local and international experts developed
based on existing experts databases and recommendations
obtained from relevant institutions
→ COMPREHENSIVE SET OF DATA AND LIST OF EXPERTS
Implementation phase B:
IX. Second National Stakeholder Meeting (Sept. 2011) : even
more stakeholders involved (>60), opportunity to discuss
and assess the work done in each SoER subject/set of
indicators (1st Draft)
X. Growing recognition and increased feeling of state
ownership of the process
XI. Additional data surveys, now targeted at specific data gaps
XII. All stakeholders comments and suggestions made at or after
the meetings taken into consideration
XIII. Database of experts uploaded online; all information on the
SoE reporting process available online (UNEP.ba)
XIV. Third National Stakeholder Workshop (April 2012): Day 1 –
assessment of the process to date; Day 2 – stakeholders
discussed 2nd Draft chapter by chapter in thematic groups
XV. Gaps identified at the meeting addressed, online
consultation on the content and overall quality of the Report
Finalization phase:
XVI. Final text of SoER distributed to 65 institutions for final
assessment and comments
XVII. Adoption of the SoER findings and recommendations at the
closing National Stakeholder Workshop (September 2012)
Results and Impacts
The key result of the chosen strategy is the quality consultative
process that made the groundbreaking task of assessing the
state of the environment in BiH possible, relevant and
comprehensive.
This exercise in stakeholder participation has given hope for
future all-state, all-inclusive processes which were not so
common and successful so far.
It has shown that such inclusive activities such as SoER, while
challenging, are clearly feasible and highly valuable in a complex
country like Bosnia and Herzegovina → REPLICATION
Next steps
Moving from a UN-driven process toward a full state ownership
-Parliamentarian adoption of the indicator framework and
methodology
-Recognition of the SoER as a policy document by decision
makers
-Framework for a future EIS and a legally based environmental
monitoring and reporting system
-Seeking collaboration with related (inter)national initiatives,
projects and processes.
THANK YOU!
Questions? 
[email protected]