Donor:
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), through the Landscape Fire Management in the Western Balkans (LFMWB) Programme
Implementers:
Lead applicant: FEA—Forestry and Environmental Action (https://www.feasee.org/)
Co-applicant 1: Public enterprise National Park Tara Bajina Basta (https://www.nptara.rs/en/)
Co-applicant 2: The Cantonal Public Institution for Protected Natural Areas (https://zppks.ba/en/homepage/)
Type of Project:
Cross-border:
Countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia
Project Duration: 13 months (02/12/2024-02/01/2026)
Total Budget: 83.515,00 CHF
Scope:
The project engages stakeholders across Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, ensuring active participation at the national levels. The main activities are focused on areas directly related to the project’s implementation, namely the Protected Landscape Trebević and Tara National Park. By targeting these key sites while involving partners and local communities in both countries, the project is aiming to achieve significant local impact as well as broader regional relevance..
Main Beneficiaries:
- Local communities gravitating towards the areas of Trebević and Tara, benefiting from enhanced fire prevention, conservation of natural resources, and improved quality of life
- Protected area administrations are supported in enhancing technological capacities for fire monitoring and management, sustainable resource management, and increasing ecosystem resilience.
- Governmental and non-governmental organizations in the nature protection sector, benefiting from support for projects promoting sustainable resource management and regional coordination.
- The entire nature protection sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, gaining broader benefits from strengthened cooperation, knowledge sharing, and improved regional capacity in nature and forest protection.
Overall Goal:
The overall goal of the project is to enhance the resilience of ecosystems and local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to landscape fires through innovative fire management approaches, cross-border cooperation, and sustainable natural resource management. By implementing advanced fire detection and monitoring technologies, fostering collaboration between protected area administrations, NGOs, and local communities, and engaging communities through education and training, the project aims to reduce fire risks, preserve high-value natural landscapes, and strengthen regional capacity for effective fire prevention and response.
Expected Results:
– Establishment of a foundation for using advanced technologies for early fire detection and monitoring in Trebević and Tara, improving the efficiency and speed of fire response.
– Enhanced cross-border cooperation and a collaborative approach to fire management between protected area administrations, NGOs, and local communities.
– Increased education and awareness among local communities and stakeholders about fire prevention, sustainable natural resource management, and the importance of protecting high-value ecosystems
Current Activities:
By combining advanced technologies, education, and active community involvement, the project is advancing on multiple fronts to build an integrated and sustainable approach to landscape prevention, monitoring, and management in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In National Park Tara, pilot testing of existing satellite technologies is underway to assess their effectiveness for early fire detection, real-time monitoring, and post-fire damage assessment. These activities aim to produce operational recommendations and guidelines for integrating such technologies into fire management strategies, thereby enhancing the park’s capacity for prevention, surveillance, and risk mitigation. In parallel, training sessions are being carried out, to ensure that local personnel are well prepared to apply these advanced monitoring tools. In the Protected Landscape Trebević, Bosnia and Herzegovina, detailed technical documentation is being developed, adapted to the specific ecological and infrastructural conditions of the area, proposeing the most suitable technical solutions and equipment for installing an advanced ICT system for early fire detection and monitoring. As part of community engagement and awareness raising, two workshops will be organized in National Park Tara and Trebevic for training and educating local communities in the LFM approach, the importance of fire prevention, the preservation of natural resources, and shared responsibility for environmental protection.
