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Summer Fires Reveal Lack of Regional Cooperation

09 08 2007  Sarajevo_ New wildfires fuelled by the heat wave that has struck the Balkans this summer continued to rage in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, just days after similar fires crossed the border and threatened one of Croatia’s main tourist attractions, the historic city of Dubrovnik.

The Croatian authorities are concerned that poor cross-border cooperation, the weakness of Bosnia’s fire fighting services and the challenges posed by the inaccessible mountainous terrain in the region mean its Dalmatian coastal resorts will continue to be vulnerable.

Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader has exchanged urgent messages with his Bosnian counterpart Nikola Spiric in recent days, discussing how to improve information exchange and cooperation between the two countries in their efforts to address the problem. Spiric proposed that an initial urgent meeting be held on Friday.

Sanader has also written to the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, proposing that a centre be established in Croatia to lead regional efforts to tackle forest fires.

Bosnian officials are also concerned about the damage done by the fires, with the local authorities in Trebinje warning that the area faces an ecological catastrophe following the destruction of almost all woodland and shrubs towards the Croatian and Montenegrin borders. They say cross-border cooperation has been hampered by a lack of political will.
 

The German ambassador to BiH, Michael Schmunk, this week announced plans to organise a meeting of officials from the Bosnian and Croatian municipalities of Trebinje, Neum, Dubrovnik and Herzeg Novi to discuss ways of increasing cooperation on this urgent issue. He did not elaborate whether the meeting would also cover any broader range of issues such as tourism and agriculture.