Ministry of Security of BiH Organizes Workshop on Strengthening Security Response and Institutional Resilience to Fires

(Patria) - The Ministry of Security of BiH organized a workshop on preventive measures and response to forest fires, aiming to strengthen coordinated response and address this increasingly frequent and challenging problem.

The workshop was attended by heads of civil protection bodies at all levels of government in BiH - state, entity, cantonal, and local - as well as representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH, who were directly involved in preparedness and response activities during the 2025 forest fire season.

In addition to domestic institutions, representatives of key international institutions and organizations also participated in the workshop.

The workshop focused on a comprehensive analysis of implemented preventive, operational, and coordination measures, an assessment of the effectiveness of the institutional response, and the identification of lessons learned to further improve the crisis management system.

Special emphasis was placed on the role of modern command and information systems, including NICS technologies, as tools for strengthening strategic coordination, interoperability, and timely decision-making in emergency security situations.

This event represents an important security forum for high-level exchange of views on institutional responsibility, strengthening inter-institutional and civil-military cooperation, and the need for further harmonization of national capacities with European and Euro-Atlantic standards in the field of protection and rescue.

The importance of the resilience of the civil protection system in the context of climate change was particularly highlighted, as climate change increasingly turns forest fires into complex security threats with potential consequences for the population, infrastructure, and the environment.

The workshop participants were addressed by the Deputy Minister of Security of BiH Ivica Bošnjak, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of BiH, Lieutenant General Gojko Knežević, Commander of NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, Brigadier General Matthew A. Valas, Deputy Commander of the European Union Force (EUFOR) in BiH, Brigadier General Umberto Incisa di Camerona, Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Team, Mojca Krisper-Figueroa, as well as Marc Lucet, Co-Head of the United Nations Development Programme for Disaster Risk Reduction in BiH.