Guardians of the Sanica and Korčanica must not be left alone!

(Patria) - Representatives of the Center for Environment visited the site of Sanica in the municipality of Ključ and witnessed the consequences for flora and fauna caused by interventions on the Sanica and Korčanica rivers. On both rivers, however, there are people, their guardians, who raise their voices to preserve them. They do not give up even though the rivers are already devastated, and they are becoming louder and stronger.

The Sanica has suffered severe alterations to its riverbed and bank area in the upper course, immediately after the source, under the pretext of a flood protection project, although the local population claims that the Sanica has never flooded there before.

"Although we were aware of these problems from the very beginning, coming to the riverbanks and listening to the testimonies of Muhamed and Safijan shocked us. We call on the local population, experts, institutions, and organizations to respond to the appeal of the Ecological Movement Sanica and provide them with the support they deserve. They must not be alone, because they are fighting for the most valuable thing we have - water," stated Vladimir Topić from the Center for Environment.

Muhamed Kučuković, a resident of Sanica, has been asking questions to the competent authorities since the fall of 2021, when work on the "regulation of the Sanica riverbed" began, expressing concern that the river would be destroyed, attending meetings, and seeking expert advice from faculties in Sarajevo. All of this was not enough.
"The Sanica River is completely devastated; it is no longer the river on which I grew up and because of which I largely returned to Bosnia. I hope that the federal inspection will order the Sanica River to be restored to its original state, or at least close to what it was. Someone must answer for this lawlessness being carried out against nature and the people who depend on the river," Kučuković said.

The local population wants to see those responsible for the destruction of the river sanctioned, because they worked without the necessary permits on a project that was questionable in nature, and ultimately they expect the revitalization of the habitat.

The Korčanica, a tributary of the Sanica, has also been devastated, for a different reason, but equally destructively. For about twenty years, Safijan Konjević watched every day as the Korčanica River changed, while the owners of the "Sanička pastrmka" fish farm took more and more water from its riverbed each year. The source of this river now looks like a pond; the water is slowed down by a dam for the fish farm, putting pressure on the source, and the local population fears it could even recede. Private interest was once again stronger than the public interest, and despite numerous inquiries, requests, and even attempts to block the work, Safijan remained alone and ignored in his struggle.

Nataša Crnković, coordinator of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas program at the Center for Environment, emphasizes that first-category rivers must enjoy genuine protection, not just on paper.

"The Sanica River used to be drinkable directly from its bed, but now, next to the destroyed river, the situation is even worse, because sewage pipes from an entire settlement have been led directly into the Sanica via bank reinforcements. After the frenzy for building small hydropower plants finally subsided, more and more projects for so-called river regulation are emerging, which deny the entire flora and fauna within it, viewing the river solely from a technical perspective, again to the detriment of people and nature. This should be a bitter lesson for us, a mistake that as a society we must not repeat," added Nataša.

The Center for Environment, with the involvement of other organizations such as the Arhus Center Sarajevo, has previously supported the voices of individuals gathered in the Facebook group "Stop ecocide and destruction of the Sanica and Korčanica rivers," from which the association Ecological Movement Sanica later emerged. The Center will continue with legal, expert, and advisory activities to restore some of the life and splendor that the Sanica and Korčanica once had, and they believe that over time, awareness of the need to preserve these rivers will grow within the local community itself.